After seeing what the Angel of Jehovah does for us as God’s people – from saving us from our sufferings to leading us, caring for us, serving us, executing the new covenant, carrying out God’s economy, executing God’s administration, taking possession of the whole earth, judging Babylon the Great and bringing in the kingdom of God – we now come back to Exodus.
After decreeing the law, God promised the children of Israel that He will send an Angel before them to keep them in the way and bring them into the place which He has prepared. The goal of God giving them the law was so that they may enter into the good land and live a life for the fulfillment of God’s purpose, and God Himself will make sure of this: He sends an Angel (a type of Christ) to guide them and bring them into the good land, which God has prepared for them.
Praise the Lord, God gives us the law – a portrait of who He is – so that we may enter into the full enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ, the reality of the good land! In this blog post we want to see a few aspects of the good land and how Christ as the Angel of Jehovah brings us into the full enjoyment and possession of this all-inclusive Christ, as revealed in Exo. 23.
Christ Keeps us and Brings us into the Full Enjoyment of Himself as the Good Land
After respeaking the law in Deuteronomy, God promised His people that He will send His Angel (a type of Christ as God’s sent One) to keep them in the way and bring them into the good land. The Angel of Jehovah typifies Christ as the One sent by God to keep His people in the way and to bring them into the good land (Deut. 8:7); this good land is a type of Christ in His all-inclusiveness as the allotted portion of God’s people (Col. 1:12).
Hallelujah, Christ not only is all-inclusive for us to enjoy, enter into, walk in, and partake of, but He Himself guides us on the way to bring us into the full enjoyment of Himself! What is this good land? It is Christ as the all-inclusive One as revealed in the heart of the Bible – Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians.
In Galatians we see that the Spirit, the consummation of the processed Triune God, is the blessing, the good land (Gal. 3:14), and we should walk in the spirit (Gal. 5:16, 25). We enter into the good land by regeneration, and we enjoy the good land by living and walking in the mingled spirit!
In Ephesians we see that we are seated with Christ in the heavenlies, and we should have a walk that is worthy of God and of our calling; we should have a walk in the light (as children of light) and in love. We shouldn’t be drunk with wine but be filled in spirit by singing, praising, and doing everything in the name of the Lord Jesus – this is the good land!
In Colossians we are given an allotted portion of Christ with the saints in the Lord (Col. 1:12), and we should walk in Him and be rooted and grounded in Him; such a walk is not in the old man but by putting on the new man who is being renewed until we become like Christ. We need to walk in Christ as the good land by having the word of Christ dwell in us richly and having the peace of Christ arbitrate in our hearts, singing with grace in our heart to the Lord.
In Philippians we see that we need to walk by the same rule, that is, we need to be found in Him, not having our own righteousness, but striving to know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death. As believers in Christ, we should forget the things behind and stretch forward to the things before so that we may gain Christ, lay hold of Him, and enjoy Him to the uttermost! Hallelujah!
Furthermore, Christ is able to keep us in the way – we should trust in God’s keeping power and not in our love for God or zeal for Him.
We shouldn’t be discouraged by our failures because God is able to keep us, preserve us, and guard us; He is able to guard our good deposit until the day we see Him (1 Pet. 1:5).
We should simply commit ourselves to the Lord and to His keeping power, put ourselves into His hand, and trust in His care; He promises that He will keep us and guard us so that we may be preserved complete – spirit, soul, and body – unto that day (1 Thes. 5:23).
Praise the Lord, He will preserve us from falling and from the slightest slippage!
Lord, thank You for bringing us into the enjoyment of Yourself as the all-inclusive Christ, into the allotted portion of the saints in the light. We want to walk in You, take possession of You, be rooted and grounded in You, and do everything in the spirit so that we may fully enjoy You as the good land. Lord, we forget the things behind and stretch forward to the things before to gain You, obtain You, pursue You, and lay hold of You. We trust not in ourselves but in Your keeping power; we don’t know what will befall us, but we know You will keep us and bring us into the full enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ as the good land!
Listening to the Lord to Enjoy His Blessings and Remain in the Realm of Life
Regarding the Angel of Jehovah, God Said, “My Name is in Him” (Exo. 23:21); God’s name is His very Person – it cannot be separated from Himself, showing us that Christ, the Angel of Jehovah, is God Himself coming to us to fulfill God’s purpose in God’s name. We simply need to listen to His voice as He speaks to us, because Christ’s speaking is God’s speaking (Exo. 23:22).
When He was on earth, Christ didn’t speak His own words – He listened to the Father and spoke the Father’s words to do His works; Christ is the real Angel of Jehovah, having God’s name and God’s speaking, and today we should listen to Him. If we listen to the Lord’s speaking in His word, in the meetings, and in our spirit, we will enjoy the Lord’s blessings.
The blessings in Exodus 23:25-26 signify spiritually that God will give us bread (the Word — Matt. 4:4) to nourish us and water (the Spirit — John 7:37-39) to satisfy us, will cause us to grow and be fruitful, and will take away our sicknesses that we would not suffer a premature death (cf. 1 Cor. 11:30; 1 John 5:16) but would grow in the divine life to maturity, to full age (Eph. 4:13; Col. 1:28), in order to gain the all-inclusive Christ as our possession for our enjoyment (Phil. 3:8). (Exo. 23:25, footnote 1, Recovery Version)
Hallelujah, Christ is leading us into the good land where we have plenty of bread (Christ in His word) to nourish us and lots of water (the Spirit) to quench our thirst, and He will keep us from death! Actually, everything that is outside of Christ as the good land is death and barrenness.
Exo. 23:31 describes the boundaries of the promised land: from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines (the Mediterranean), and from the wilderness to the River. The sea signifies waters of death, and the wilderness signifies barrenness. The good land is between death and death, and between death and barrenness, but this good land is an elevated land, full of life and enjoyment.
Outside of Christ there’s nothing but death and barrenness, but in Christ we have the bread of life, the water of life, and life abundant, and we are in resurrection enjoying the bountiful riches of the all-inclusive Christ! Let’s stay in Christ, enjoy Christ, be filled with Christ, and we will remain in the realm of life and blessing!
Lord Jesus, we want to take possession of You as the all-inclusive good land by listening to and obeying Your voice. Bring us into the full enjoyment of Yourself as the good land as we listen to Your word and obey Your word. Lord, thank You for giving us Your word as the bread of life to nourish us and Your Spirit as the water of life to satisfy us. Lord, keep us growing in the divine life unto maturity, and remove any death or sicknesses from us. We love You, Lord, and we want to remain in You as the realm of life in resurrection to enjoy You as the reality of the good land!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, brother Andrew Yu’s sharing in the message for this week, and Life-study of Exodus, msg. 73 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Exodus (2), week 11 / msg 11, The Angel of Jehovah for His people to take possession of the promised land.
- All Bible verses are taken from, Holy Bible Recovery Version.
- Hymns on this topic to strengthen this burden:
# What a Christ we have, the all-inclusive One, / Our allotted portion, set apart in light. / In the kingdom of the Son of God, the Son of God’s love, / Here He rules us in the light of His love. (Song on Christ as the Good Land)
# Lord, teach me how to exercise / My spirit now to contact Thee, / That in Thy Spirit I may walk / And live by Thy reality. (Hymns #493)
# Christ is the way and Christ the light of life, / In Him we walk and by Him we are led; / Christ is the living water and the food; / Of Him we drink and we with Him are fed. (Hymns #863)
Exodus 23:31 describes the boundaries of the promised land:…The bounds were from “the Red sea even to the sea of the Philistines [the Mediterranean].” The seas here signify the waters of death. Hence, from sea to sea signifies from death to death. This means that one of the boundaries of the promised land is death. Verse 31 also says that the boundary was to be “from the wilderness to the River.” The river also signifies the water of death, and the wilderness signifies barrenness. If we study a map, we shall see that the promised land is surrounded by death and barrenness. The land itself, however, is a region of life filled with abundance of fruit.
Outside of Christ there is nothing but death and barrenness. Death and barrenness surround Christ as our land and are the boundaries of Christ. The Bible indicates that the promised land is elevated. This signifies that Christ is elevated in resurrection. However, this elevated land, this elevated Christ, is surrounded by death and barrenness. (Witness Lee, Life-study of Exodus, pp. 867-868)