Eating Christ as the Rich Produce of the Good Land to be Constituted His Overcoming People

For us as believers in Christ to reach the goal of God’s economy, we need to progress in our eating Christ to eat Him as the rich produce of the good land so that we may become His overcomers who defeat the spiritual enemies, are built up to be God’s dwelling place, and establish God’s kingdom on earth.

There is more than one stage of eating Christ – according to the types we see in the Old Testament, there are at least three such stages.

First, we need to eat Christ as the Lamb of God, the One who died for us on the cross not only to redeem us but also to be roasted by the fire of God’s judgment and become our food.

Christ is our Passover; He has been sacrificed not only to shed His blood for redemption but also to become our life supply for us to be rescued and delivered from the world.

When we believe in the Lord Jesus, apply His precious blood, and eat Him as the Lamb of God sacrificed for us, we are inwardly strengthened and supplied to leave the world and be delivered from its usurpation.

Furthermore, as seen in the wilderness with the manna, we need to advance in our eating of Christ to enjoy Him every morning as our heavenly food.

Christ is the bread of God, the bread of life, the living bread, that came down out from heaven for us to enjoy, partake of, and be constituted with.

We may have been redeemed and regenerated, and we may have the life of God in our spirit, but our soul is still constituted with and craving the things of the world; therefore, we need to be intrinsically reconstituted.

There are many things that we still desire to feed on in order to find satisfaction; these are “our Egyptian diet”.

Even as the children of Israel desired the garlic, the onions, the leeks, and the melons and cucumbers in Egypt, so we crave things in the world.

So the Lord wants to change our inner constitution by changing our diet; He gives us only one thing: Christ as our heavenly food.

As we eat Christ as the bread of life and the living bread, we are being inwardly reconstituted with Him. Our diet is being changed from the things that this world has to offer to Christ, the unique heavenly food given to us by God.

God gives us the wonderful Christ to be our life and life supply, and as we enjoy Him, we are constituted with Him, we live because of Him, and we build up the church.

The Lord Jesus had a God-man living and lived a God-man life by enjoying the Father and living because of the Father.

The more we eat the Lord Jesus in His Word, the more we live because of Him.

We shouldn’t try to change ourselves or improve ourselves; we shouldn’t try to figure out what’s wrong with us…we should simply eat Jesus, and He as the heavenly food in us will live the Christian life, and He will fulfill God’s purpose in and through us. He is our all-inclusive supply.

Eating Christ as the Rich Produce of the Good Land to be Constituted His Overcoming People

In Canaan, the people of Israel didn’t eat the manna – they ate the produce of the good land (Josh. 5:11-12); on the very day that they entered the land they started to eat of the produce of the land.

This is another level of eating, another stage; this third stage is eating the rich supply of the good land, which constituted them to be an overcoming people.

We can be constituted to be the overcomers today by eating Christ as the rich produce of the good land. How can we become an overcomer? It is by eating in this third stage; we need to go on a new diet – the overcomer diet.

Some people go on this diet or that diet because they want to lose weight or they want to take care of their health; we should all go on the overcomer diet by eating Christ as the rich produce of the good land so that we may be constituted an overcoming people.

Eating Christ as the Lamb of God produces redeemed people. Eating Christ as the manna, the heavenly food, produces sanctified people. Eating Christ as the rich produce of the good land produces overcomers.

We all need to enter into this third stage. Eating the manna produces the tabernacle.

We could say that the tabernacle is like the church life that we find in Corinth; this is why in Corinth Paul talks about Christ being the Passover and the Feast of unleavened bread because the church life in Corinth was a wilderness church life.

But when we look at Ephesians and Colossians, we see a good and more solid church life, like the solid temple in the good land; the saints there were more mature and advanced in life by eating Christ as the rich produce of the good land.

We need to advance and be matured in life, not only by drinking milk but also by eating solid food, the rich produce of the good land.

We cannot say that the church in Corinth was not a genuine local church, but we can say that what God really needed could not be produced among them, for they didn’t arrive at the goal and they didn’t have the eating in the highest stage.

Unless we advance in our eating, we will not reach the goal of God’s economy in this age and in the next age.

Paul compares this to running a race; this race is a marathon, and we don’t run against one another but against time.

In a marathon it seems that people compete against each other; actually, they compete against time.

In our Christian life we don’t compete against other Christians; we are racing against time.

We don’t know how long we will live and we don’t know when this age will end, so it is essential that we don’t waste time but rather, we pursue Christ every day in His word to gain Him in our Christian life and church life.

We want to fulfill God’s eternal economy both in this age and in our lifetime.

The good land was a land of wheat, barley, vines, fig trees, pomegranates, olive trees with oil, and honey; all these typify the unsearchable riches of Christ (Deut. 8:8; Eph. 3:8).

These are the unsearchable riches of Christ for us to enjoy and experience – the riches of the good land.

By enjoying the riches of the good land, the people of Israel conquered the tribes in the land, established the kingdom of God, and built up the temple as God’s dwelling place on earth (Josh. 5:11-12).

As we enjoy Christ in all His unsearchable riches, as we enjoy and experience the unsearchably rich Christ, we are equipped and prepared to build up the church as the temple of God and establish the kingdom of God on earth.

As we advance in our eating of Christ to arrive at the highest stage of eating the all-inclusive Christ and be constituted with His riches to become His fullness, we are built up as the temple to be His dwelling place on earth, that is, the reality of the Body of Christ.

Lord Jesus, we want to progress in our eating of Christ so that we may enjoy and experience the all-inclusive Christ to be produced as the overcoming ones. Hallelujah, we can overcome by eating Jesus Christ as the rich produce of the good land! Amen, Lord, we want to be on this “overcomer diet” by enjoying the unsearchable riches of Christ in our daily life. We want to reach the goal of Your economy in our lifetime. You are so rich, so full, and so all-inclusive; we come to You again and again to labor on the good land, gain the rich produce of Christ, and be constituted with Christ. Amen, Lord, we want to enjoy You as the all-inclusive Christ so that we may build up the church as the temple of God and establish the kingdom of God!

We need to Progress until we Eat Christ as the Rich Produce of the Good Land to Overcome the Enemies and be Built up as God’s Dwelling Place

With regards to eating, there are three stages of our eating Christ, as typified by the eating of the children of Israel in their journey to the good land.

The first stage is eating Christ as the Passover, especially as the Lamb of God; such eating supplies us and enables us to be redeemed people who escape the usurpation of Satan in the world.

The second stage of eating is eating Christ as the manna, the heavenly food given by God to us to reconstitute us and make us God’s sanctified people journeying with Him through the wilderness.

By our eating in the first two stages, we are energized to leave the world and we’re constituted with Christ as the heavenly element (see John 6:51-57; 1 Cor. 5:7-8; 10:3-4).

How can we be delivered from the world and be reconstituted with God Himself? It is by eating Christ as the Lamb of God and as the heavenly food given by God to us.

We have become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption which is in the world by lust; we escape by partaking, and our partaking is our strength to escape the corruption that is in the world.

In order for us to reach the goal of God’s economy, we need to progress until we enter into the highest stage of eating Christ as the rich produce of the good land so that we may overcome the spiritual enemies, be built up to be God’s dwelling place, and establish God’s kingdom on earth. Amen!

We want to be those who reach the goal of God’s economy on earth today; we are here not just trying our best to run the race at the back of the marathon, those who realize the race is over by the time we reach the finish line.

We want to reach the goal of God’s economy, so we need to progress in our eating Christ until we eat Him as the rich produce of the good land.

This should be our goal. We want to be the overcomers of God today, those who stand in Christ’s victory to defeat the enemies, establish the kingdom of God, and are built up as God’s dwelling place on earth.

For this, we need to grow in life and advance until we reach the fourth stage of the experience of life, where we engage in spiritual warfare, know the Body, live in the reality of the Body and are mature in Christ.

We need not only to drink the milk of the Word but eat the solid food in the Word, and be constituted with the minerals in the good land so that we may be solid and equipped for warfare.

As we eat Christ as the rich produce of the good land, we are constituted with Him and are made the same as Christ in life, nature, and expression for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ (Eph. 4:16).

We need to eat the wheat, the barley, and all the other foodstuffs that have the minerals to make us strong stones, iron, and copper for God’s building and for the fighting for the battle.

We don’t fight the battle merely by eating the lamb or the manna; we need solid food with minerals in it.

We need to become like rocks, have weapons made of iron and copper, and be equipped and ready to build up the temple, establish the kingdom of God, fight the battle, and defeat the enemy.

First, we need to eat Christ as the rich produce of the good land; second, we need to labor on the good land by tilling the ground, sowing the seed, watering the seed, cultivating the soil, and reaping the harvest.

We live in the good land, which is Christ Himself, and day by day we need to work on Christ; we labor on Christ by having morning watch, praying, and dealing with the Lord.

As we read the Bible, the morning revival, and the spiritual books, we need to open to the Lord to till the ground and sow the seed and water the seed or cultivate the soil.

We shouldn’t be lazy and assume that, whether we have a time with the Lord or not, it doesn’t matter, the Lord will grow in us; it makes a great difference whether or not we cooperate with the Lord to labor on Christ.

If we labor on Christ as the good land, we will enjoy the rich produce of the good land, and our harvest will be rich in both crops and flocks. Hallelujah!

We will also be constituted with the minerals for the battle and the building.

Lord Jesus, we want to reach the goal of Your economy by progressing in our eating Christ until we eat Him as the rich produce of the good land to overcome the enemies, be built up as God’s dwelling place, and establish God’s kingdom. Amen, Lord, we don’t want to miss the goal of Your economy. We do not want to be lazy and languishing in the land. We exercise our spirit day by day to labor on Christ in our time with Him, our prayer, and our fellowship. May there be a rich harvest of Christ produced for the building up of the church. Constitute us with Yourself, Lord, as the riches of the land, the minerals, and everything we need to become Your people who establish Your kingdom, build up the church, and defeat the enemies!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. Raabe for this week, and portions from, The Kernel of the Bible, chs. 4-5, by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-study of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth (2021 summer training), week 5, The Produce of the Land of Canaan and the Intrinsic Significance of the Allotment of the Good Land.
• Further reading: recommending the outline for this week, the section on, Three Stages of Eating (via Living Stream).
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Reaping wheat and barley, death and resurrection, / Though the loss sustained our old man often grieves; / But in life abundant, life in resurrection, / Coming to the meeting, bringing in the sheaves. / Grain and wine and oil—bringing in the surplus / Of the wheat and barley, vine and olive trees: / Wine to cause rejoicing, oil to give anointing, / Bringing in the top tenth, bringing in the sheaves. (Hymns #1167)
  – Laboring on Jesus this practical way— / Praying His Word in the spirit each day, / Foll’wing His living anointing within, / Built up with others, the church life to win. / Laboring on Jesus yields reality, / Meetings of fullness for all men to see; / There God and man are indeed satisfied, / And there God’s presence cannot be denied. (Hymns #1168)
  – Christ is a land of iron stones, / Whence comes authority. / We must dig out this solid Christ / To bind His enemy. / Then we must through the sufferings pass / To be refined as burnished brass. / With iron bind, as brass refined, / Is our need. (Hymns #1164)