CRYSTALLIZATION-STUDY OF FIRST AND SECOND KINGS
Message One
The Intrinsic Revelation in 1 and 2 Kings concerning the Economy of God Unveiled and Conveyed through Typology
Scripture Reading: Eph. 1:10, 22-23; 3:9; Col. 2:9; 3:11; 1 Tim. 1:4; 1 Kings 2:11-12; 6:1-2
I. The Bible is a book of God's economy—Gen. 1:1, 26-28; Rev. 21:1-2, 9-11:
A. The entire Bible, both the Old Testament and the New Testament, is first a picture of God's economy and then a full definition and fulfillment of God's economy—Eph. 1:10; 1 Tim. 1:4.
B. The Bible is a record of the divine revelation concerning God's eternal economy, of which Christ is the center and the reality—John 14:6; Col. 1:15; 3:11:
1. Christ is the embodiment of the Triune God, and the church is the Body of Christ—2:9; Eph. 1:22-23.
2. Christ and the church are the basic structure of the Bible—Eph. 5:32.
C. God's economy, the key to the Bible, is the Triune God with His plan and arrangement to dispense Himself in His Divine Trinity into His chosen, redeemed, and regenerated people as their life, their life supply, and their everything to make them His corporate expression, initially as the Body of Christ and ultimately as the New Jerusalem—Eph. 3:9:
1. If we see that God's economy is the key to the Bible, we will use this key in our study of every book of the Bible.
2. If we see this key and use it, the Bible will become to us what it is to God—the revelation of the divine economy—Luke 24:44-46.
II. First and 2 Kings are concerned not with the historical facts but with the intrinsic revelation in these books:
A. The intrinsic revelation of the history according to the record from Joshua to Esther is to unveil to us how the eternal economy of God was carried out by His elect on the earth—Josh. 1:1-9; 1 Sam. 16:12-13; 1 Kings 2:11-12; 6:1-2.
B. Apparently, the books of 1 and 2 Kings are the history of the kings of Israel; actually, 1 and 2 Kings were written in the inspiration of the Spirit of God in the way of being related to God's eternal economy—Eph. 3:9; 1 Tim. 1:4.
C. David and Solomon, as types, are strong evidences that the history of the kings of Israel is related to the economy of God, which concerns Christ as the embodiment of God and the church as the Body of Christ—Eph. 5:32.
D. Since Solomon and the temple built by him play strong roles in the history of Israel and occupy a wide realm in such a history, they are evidence that the history of Israel concerns very much the fulfillment of God's eternal economy in the Old Testament in the way of typology—Luke 24:44:
1. That Christ and the church are the centrality and universality of God's economy is universal in both the New Testament and the Old Testament—Matt. 16:16-18.
2. We need to see that the books of history were written from the point of view of God's eternal economy concerning Christ and the church—Eph. 5:32.
E. In reading 1 and 2 Kings, we need to see the link between the Old Testament books of history and the New Testament; this link is God's economy for Christ and for Christ's Body—Eph. 1:22-23; 3:17; 4:16.
III. The Old Testament history is closely related to God's economy in the way of typology—Eph. 3:9; 1 Cor. 5:7; 10:6:
A. The Old Testament is a figurative portrait of God's eternal economy, and the New Testament is the practical fulfillment of God's eternal economy.
B. The types from Genesis to Deuteronomy unveil the Triune God embodied in Christ as the center and circumference of His eternal economy and also unveil Christ as the blessing and everything to the Triune God's chosen people—Deut. 8:7-11.
C. The twelve books of history from Joshua to Esther unveil the Triune God's move in His chosen people to possess, inherit, and enjoy His promised all-inclusive Christ as the good land—Josh. 1:1-9, 13; Esth. 4:13-14.
D. The books of poetry—Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs—unveil that Christ is the unique perfection for God's chosen people to pursue after and the unique satisfaction for God's chosen people to obtain and enjoy—Job 42:1-5; Psa. 2:6-12; 8:1; S. S. 1:2-4; 6:1, 10, 13; 8:1, 14.
E. In the seventeen books of prophecy from Isaiah to Malachi, we see that the Triune God has become a God-man to accomplish His full redemption for the fulfillment of His eternal economy, which will consummate in the new heaven and new earth—Isa. 9:6; Rev. 21:1.
F. The books from Matthew to John unveil that the Triune God has been processed and consummated to be the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit—John 1:14; 7:39.
G. The book of Acts unveils the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit spreading Himself as the reality of Christ, who is the embodiment of God, for the producing of the churches of God—1:3, 8; 2:22-36; 4:23-31.
H. The books from Romans to Revelation unveil the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit building up the churches through transformation into the organism of the consummated Triune God as the Body of Christ, which will consummate in the New Jerusalem as the eternal enlargement of the consummated Triune God—Rom. 1:3-4; 12:4-5; 16:20; Rev. 21:2, 9-11.
IV. The intrinsic revelation in 1 and 2 Kings is unveiled and conveyed through typology:
A. Israel's history is not only a type of the entire church but also a type of God's economy—1 Tim. 1:4.
B. Israel typifies the church as God's elect in the New Testament—1 Cor. 5:7; 10:6:
1. God's intention is to have a corporate Body—Eph. 1:22-23:
a. For this corporate Body, typified by the nation of Israel, God worked Himself into the corporate Israel so that they would become the house of God, God's habitation on earth—Exo. 25:8-9; 40:34.
b. This corporate Israel is a type of the church as the Body of Christ.
2. The entire history of Israel is a type of the church; Paul applies the history of the children of Israel to the New Testament church life—1 Cor. 5:7; 10:6.
3. The Old Testament has a people—Israel—and the New Testament has a people—the church; these two peoples are a description of one thing that God has done—the accomplishment of God's economy—Eph. 1:10; 3:9.
C. David typifies the suffering Christ, and Solomon typifies the Christ glorified in the kingdom of God and its splendor—1 Kings 2:11-12.
D. The temple typifies Christ and the church as the unique building of God in the universe—Matt. 12:6; 16:18.
E. The prophet Elisha represents God's New Testament economy in typology; he is a type in the Old Testament who typifies the real things in the New Testament—2 Kings 4:9.
F. Jezebel, a most hateful person, the pagan wife of Ahab, is a type of who Jezebel is in the New Testament reality—a type of the apostate church—1 Kings 16:31; 19:1-2; 21:23; Rev. 2:20-23.
G. In typology the king's palaces and God's temple were separate, whereas in the New Testament reality these two are one building—1 Kings 9:15; Eph. 2:21-22:
1. On the one hand, we, the New Testament believers, are priests to serve and worship God—1 Pet. 2:9.
2. On the other hand, we are God's kings to reign for God—Rev. 1:6, 9; 5:10.
H. The kings are types of the New Testament believers, because all the New Testament believers are saved by God to be kings—Rev. 1:6, 9; 5:10:
1. The believers in the New Testament should be the fulfillment of the typology of the kings in God's economy—Rom. 5:17, 21.
2. In the New Testament all the believers are saved to be kings and priests—1 Pet. 2:9; Rev. 1:6; 5:10; 2 Tim. 2:12:
a. God rules, but He does not rule directly; He rules through us, the believers, as kings—Rev. 20:4, 6; 3:21.
b. We were regenerated with a divine, spiritual, heavenly, kingly, and royal life; this enthrones us to reign as kings over all things—John 1:12-13; 3:3, 5; Rev. 5:10; Rom. 5:17, 21.
V. The history books were put into the Holy Scriptures because, in typology, they give us a vivid view of God's economy; the essence of the typology of the Old Testament is God's economy with Christ and His Body as the center and reality—Eph. 1:9; 3:9; 5:32.