13. Another Angel

At least four times in the book of Revelation Christ is called “another Angel” (Rev. 8:3; 7:2; 10:1; 18:1). Christ is called another Angel in this book because He is the One sent by God to carry out His economy.

This Angel is Christ. In the administration of God’s judgment upon the earth, Christ is the Angel standing on the position of One who has been sent by God. In a very positive sense, Christ is everything; He is whatever the economy of God needs. Revelation specifically describes Christ as another Angel indicating that He is not a regular or common angel but a special Angel.

In the heavenly scene portrayed in Revelation 8 Christ appears as another Angel to execute God’s administration over the earth in the way of ministering to God as the High Priest with the prayers of His saints. As He offers the prayers of His saints to God, He adds His incense to them. The first altar in Revelation 8:3 refers to the altar of burnt offering (cf. Exo. 27:1-8), and the golden altar before the throne refers to the incense altar (cf. Exo. 30:1-9). The golden censer signifies the prayer of the saints, which is brought to God by Christ as another Angel. The incense signifies Christ with all His merit added to the prayers of the saints so that the saints’ prayers may be acceptable to God upon the golden altar.

Having considered Christ’s person in the Godhead, we shall go on in this message to see Christ’s person in the divine economy. The aspects of Christ’s person in the Godhead are deep, but the aspects of Christ’s person in the divine economy are even deeper.

B. IN THE DIVINE ECONOMY

What is the divine economy? The divine economy is God’s household management, God’s household administrative arrangement, the divine dispensation. In 1 Timothy 3:15-16 we see God’s household administration, which is to dispense Himself into His children so that He may have a household, the church, to express Himself.

1. God’s Anointed

In the divine economy Christ is God’s Anointed, the Messiah

2. The One Having the Preeminence

in All Things

In the divine economy Christ is the One having the preeminence in all things.

b. The Lord in Resurrection

Being the Spirit—the Lord Spirit

In resurrection Christ is the Spirit—the Lord Spirit.

8. The Giver of the Spirit

In the Godhead Christ is the complete God, the Son of God, and the life-giving Spirit. He is also the Giver of the Spirit.

9. The Baptizer in the Holy Spirit: In contrast to John the Baptist, who baptized in water, Christ is the Baptizer in the Holy Spirit. Water signifies death and burial for the termination of the repenting people; the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of life and resurrection for the germination of the terminated people.

10. The Author of Life in Whom Is Life

Christ is the Author of life in whom is life. Christ’s being the Author of life is for the imparting, the dispensing, of life into others. To dispense the divine life into others is to propagate Christ.

In this message we shall cover more aspects of Christ in the Godhead.

7. The Life-giving Spirit

First Corinthians 15:45b says, “The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.” Undoubtedly, the last Adam here is Christ in the flesh. This last Adam became the life-giving Spirit through the process of resurrection. Adam became a living soul through creation with a soulish body. Christ became a life-giving Spirit through resurrection with a spiritual body. Adam as a living soul is natural; Christ as a life-giving Spirit is resurrected. First, in incarnation He became flesh for redemption (John 1:14, 29). Then in resurrection He became a life-giving Spirit for imparting life (John 10:10). As the life-giving Spirit in resurrection, He is ready to be received by His believers. When we believe into Him, He enters our spirit, and we are joined to Him as the life-giving Spirit to become one spirit with Him

a. In Resurrection

It is in resurrection that Christ is the life-giving Spirit. John 20:22 indicates this. According to this verse, on the day of His resurrection, the resurrected Christ breathed on the disciples and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” By breathing the Spirit into the disciples, the Lord imparted Himself as life and everything to them essentially.

Although the Son and the Father are one, we should not say that there is no distinction between the Father and the Son. There is a distinction between the Father and the Son, but there is no separation. When the Father is present, the Son is present also. Likewise where the Son is, there the Father is also. The Father and the Son cannot be separated.

b. Coinherent with the Father

In studying the deep truths concerning the Trinity we may use three particular words: the verb “coinhere,” the noun “coinherence,” and the adjective “coinherent.”

c. To Whom All Was Delivered by the Father

and Who Has All That the Father Has

5. The One Whom No One Knows

Except the Father

In the Godhead Christ is the One whom no one knows except the Father.

6. The Word of Life

In this message we shall consider further aspects of Christ in the Godhead.

3. The Word

God is mysterious. He needs the Word to express Him. Christ, as the Word, defines, explains, and expresses Him. Therefore, Christ, as the Word, is the definition, explanation, and expression of God. This Word is actually God Himself, not God hidden, concealed, and mysterious, but God defined, explained, and expressed.

4. The Expression of the Father

Christ is the expression of the Father. As the Son He is the issue, the coming out, of God, and He is also the expression of the Father. Because the Son expressed the Father, the Son is the expression of the Father.

a. One with the Father

In John 10:30 the Lord Jesus says, “I and the Father are one.” The Son is one with the Father. Because the Son and the Father are one, when we see the Son, we see the Father.

CHRIST—HIS PERSON

(1)

In the foregoing messages we have considered the New Testament and God’s New Testament economy and also God in His person, nature, attributes, good pleasure, manifestation, and work. With this message we shall begin to cover Christ’s person, and in later messages we shall cover Christ’s attributes, virtues, and work. As we shall see, concerning Christ’s person there are a great many aspects.

We all need to have the vision that the God who is dispensing Himself into our being is Christ. All that God is, is in Christ. This means that we cannot separate what God is from what Christ is, for God is embodied in Christ. When we say that God is dispensing Himself into us, we need to realize that this dispensing God in His economy is Christ. Without being Christ, God could not dispense Himself into us. God is Christ for the purpose of His dispensing. For this reason, in the Bible we have God and also Christ.

c. Subsisting/Being in the Form of God,

in Equality with God

The Greek word translated “subsisting” denotes existing from the beginning; it implies Christ’s eternal preexistence. The word “form” refers to the expression, not the fashion, of God’s being. It is identified with the essence and nature of God’s person and thus expresses His essence and nature. This refers to Christ’s deity. According to this verse, Christ is equal with God.

God is a mystery. Furthermore, God has a history, a story. Although God is eternal, He also has a history. Of course, to say that God has a history is to speak in human terms for our understanding. What is the history of God, the story of God? God is infinite and eternal, without beginning or ending. In the beginning, in eternity past, God had a good pleasure, the desire of His heart. Based on this good pleasure, which is the desire of His heart, God made a plan. The biblical term for this plan is purpose.

31. Disciplining the Believers

Referring to the Hebrew believers’ suffering of persecution, Hebrews 12:5-11 considers the persecution as God the Father’s discipline of the believers who are God’s genuine sons

This is God our Father’s finer work in dealing with us as His sons. His work of making us holy is related to the Spirit’s transformation work (2 Cor. 3:18), which is carried out through the divine dispensing inwardly and the environmental dealings outwardly.

32. Causing All Things to Work Together for Good to Those Who Love God and Who Are Called according to the Purpose

33. Answering the Believers’ Prayers

34. Crushing Satan under the Believers’ Feet

35. Building the New Jerusalem

36. Giving Christ the Revelation of the Things to Come concerning the Church, Israel, and the World

3As a conclusion of the divine revelation in the Holy Scripture, God gave Christ this last revelation concerning the three categories of people in the universe: the church, Israel, and the world.

28. Caring for and Guarding the Believers and Making a Way out of Temptation for Them

God cares for the believers and guards them; He also makes a way out of trials for them. Concerning God’s caring for the believers, 1 Peter 5:7 says, “Casting all your anxiety on Him, because it matters to Him concerning you.” The word “casting” here means throwing upon, that is, committing to, giving up to.

29. Encouraging the Believers:Encouragement is slightly different from comfort and consolation, with the sense of cheering. It indicates that God not only comforts and consoles us, but also cheers us, making us happy with His goodness.

30. Perfecting, Establishing, Strengthening, and Grounding the Believers: First Peter 5:10 says, “The God of all grace, who called you into His eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will Himself perfect, establish, strengthen, and ground you.” According to what Peter says here, our sufferings are only for a little while, but God’s glory is eternal. After we have suffered a little while, the God of all grace will personally perfect, establish, strengthen, and ground us.