The Vision of the Tabernacle

Chapter 14

God's Economy in the Old Testament and the New Testament

Introduction

In the previous chapter we saw that we need to have a vision of God's economy, of His desire and eternal purpose, without which we will deviate to different doctrines or teachings that do not produce God's economy, which is in faith (1 Tim. 1:4). Paul, Aquila and Priscilla are good examples of Christians who are controlled by a heavenly vision (Acts 26:19).

We must seek after and long to have this controlling vision! This is the only way to follow the Lord without being discouraged. If we only seek the Lord for the things He gives us, we will probably have a hard time following Him in times of suffering and trial. But if we follow Him because of having a heavenly vision, independent of people or circumstances, we will never give up. If we are serving the Lord, we must be motivated by this vision, not by any desire to be recognized by men or for any personal profit. The vision of God's economy must govern our Christian life and our service to God.

It is important to stress that it is not enough to love the Lord in order to follow Him in a proper way. We will see that the Lord mentions people who loved the Lord, but they had serious failures because their service to Him did not come from a clear vision of His desire and purpose for man and for the church. We need to be serious with the Lord and consider, in His light, how our life with Him has been. We may love Him and yet still live according to our own concepts and interests. We may love Him and at the same time not contribute to the oneness of His people, which is His deepest desire today. We may love Him very much and love to serve Him, but we may do it the way we think is best and not care about the standard in the Bible. The only way for our Christian life and service to be adequate is to have a clear and controlling vision of God's economy.

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