Christ as the preeminent and all-inclusive One is the allotted portion of the saints in the light (Col. 1:12); the Father qualified us for a share of the allotted portion of the saints. This week in our morning revival we come to the topic of, Knowing and Experiencing the All-inclusive, Extensive Christ as the Good Land — Our Allotted Portion.
What an amazing view of the all-inclusive, extensive Christ can we see in Colossians!
In particular we see that there’s an objective revelation presented, then there’s the subjective ministry that dispenses this Christ into us, and finally there’s a way to practically experience this Christ.
First we need the objective revelation, then the subjective ministry to dispense Christ into us, and finally the practical experience of such a Christ.
After Paul presented in Col. 1 this objective revelation of the all-inclusive Christ as our portion, His extensiveness, he begins to show us the stewardship that dispenses Christ into us.
Then at the end of ch 1 and beginning of ch. 2 he shows us that he is struggling that the saints would have their hearts comforted, to be knit together in love and unto the riches of the full assurance of understanding, so that they may attain unto the full knowledge of the mystery of God, Christ.
First Paul struggled that the saints would see this Christ, then that their heart be comforted, and eventually that every man would be presented full-grown in Christ, having the experience of this revealed Christ.
For us to receive the spiritual revelation, we need both our spirit and our heart to be proper; we need both spiritual wisdom and understanding – wisdom is in our spirit and understanding is in our mind, in our heart.
Seeing the spiritual scene of revelation depends very much on the condition of our heart. If our heart is not in the right place, if we don’t have an open and soft heart toward the Lord, if our heart is cold toward Him, we can’t see the all-inclusive Christ.
Paul knew that the Colossian believers had allowed some things to come into the church life, some philosophies and speakings, and this had an effect on their heart, cooling their heart for the Lord, and thus they couldn’t see the vision properly.
No matter how grand the revelation is, once our heart is not engaged or lukewarm, even cold, we don’t see the revelation but rather, our mind can be even attacked by the enemy.
When our mind is preoccupied with so many other things, we need our heart to be comforted, so that in seeing the revelation, our heart and mind would be clear and available.
May our hearts be comforted and adjusted, opened, and softened to be ready to receive further revelation of the all-inclusive and preeminent Christ as our allotted portion from God.
May we exercise to turn our heart from wherever we are, open our heart to the Lord and ask Him to make His home in our heart. May the Lord have mercy on us and unload us, even unclog our heart, so that we may have more room in our being for Him.
The Preeminent and All-inclusive Christ is our Allotted Portion as the Saints in the Light
When we read Colossians we see in example after example that Paul had before him this view of the Old Testament, and he applied the types in the Old Testament to Christ.
He had the view of the good land, and all the positive things in the Old Testament were a type of Christ, who is the reality. We give thanks to the Father who has qualified us for a share of the allotted portion of the saints in the light.
This expression, the allotted portion, makes reference to the good land in the Old Testament which was divided among the children of Israel.
In Col. 2:6 Paul further says that, as we have received Christ, Jesus the Lord, we should walk in Him, having been rooted and being built up in Him. This implies that Christ is the land into whom we have been rooted, and He is the spacious and all-inclusive land for us to walk and take possession of.
We have been given an allotted portion of Christ as the good land, we were rooted in Christ as the good land, and we need to walk in Christ as the good land.
Christ as the preeminent and all-inclusive One is the allotted portion of all the saints!
The good land is an all-inclusive type of Christ as everything to us; the good land in the Old Testament shows us that Christ is both all-inclusive and extensive for our enjoyment, and that out of our enjoyment of Christ as the good land, we build up the church as the temple of God and as the kingdom of God (the city).
The allotted portion refers to the lot of inheritance, as illustrated by the allotment of the good land of Canaan given to the children of Israel for their inheritance (Josh. 14:1).
We as New Testament believers were not allotted a physical portion of the good land; rather, the portion we were allotted is the all-inclusive Christ as the life-giving Spirit (Gal. 3:14).
In Galatians Paul also had a view of the good land, and he spoke of the blessing of Abraham – the seed (Isaac) and the land (the land of Canaan).
God promised Abraham that He will bless him and make him fruitful and multiply him (the seed) and that He will give Abraham the good land.
Now Paul tells us that the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we may receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. This shows us that the good land today is the Spirit, the consummation of the processed and consummated Triune God.
The riches of the good land typify the unsearchable riches of Christ in different aspects as the bountiful supply to His believers in Christ (Deut. 8:7-10; Eph. 3:8; Phil. 1:19).
From the prison Paul wrote that we can receive and enjoy the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.
Paul didn’t just tell us of a concept or good doctrine called the supply of the Spirit; rather, he himself experienced this bountiful supply in prison and in hardships, and now he is bringing us into the same kind of experience.
By enjoying the riches of the land – the all-inclusive and preeminent Christ as the good land – we believers in Christ are built up to be His Body as the house of God and the kingdom of God (Eph. 1:22-23; 2:21-22; 1 Tim. 3:15; Matt. 16:18-19; Rom. 14:17).
As we enjoy Christ in all His riches, as we are rooted in Him to absorb His riches, and as we walk in Him as the good land, we are built up as the dwelling place of God (the temple of God) and the kingdom of God (the city).
Thank You Father for qualifying us to enjoy the allotted portion of the saints in the light! Hallelujah, we all have been allotted a portion of the all-inclusive and preeminent Christ for our enjoyment and experience so that we may be built up to be the church, the Body of Christ! Lord, we have the right to come forward to You, based on the precious blood of Christ, to enjoy You, partake of You, be filled with You, and receive Your riches into us, so that we may be built up as the dwelling place of God and the kingdom of God!
Enjoying the Riches of Christ as the Good Land to be Built as the House and Kingdom of God
The matter of the land is crucial in the Old Testament, for God wanted to give His people a piece of land – the good land – where they can have their existence, labor, enjoy, and be built up as His people.
On this land they would build up the temple of God and the city of God. In Exo. 3:8 God told Moses that He wants His people to get out of Egypt and be brought into the land, the good land.
The land is a most all-inclusive type of Christ. God created man and put him on the land.
Actually, even before God created man, the enemy came in and rebelled against God, and the land was buried under the waters of judgement; so God came in to restore the land and do a work of further creation in Gen. 1.
Eventually God had a man on the land with His image and dominion, but again the enemy came in to separate man from the land; at the time of Noah, no one could be on the land then, but the ark brought man back to the land. God’s redemption brought man back to the enjoyment of the land.
Then God called Abraham and brought him from far away to a specific area of this land, the land of Canaan, and from Gen. 12 to the end of the Old Testament there’s a “tug of war”, a battle for the land.
God wants His people to build His house and His kingdom on this land, and the enemy comes in all the time to take them away from this land.
In our spiritual experience, as Paul said in Col. 2, we need to beware than no one would carry us off as spoil; we are rooted and grounded in the good land, but we need to be careful, for there’s a force trying to get us away from the land.
God called Abraham, he came on the land; then at least a couple of time he went to Egypt, away from the land. Then the same with Isaac and finally with Jacob, they both went to Egypt, and eventually Jacob and his whole house moved to Egypt.
So Genesis ends with God’s people being in Egypt – not on the land, and Exodus begins with God’s desire to recover His people back to the land.
Eventually through Moses and Joshua God brought His people back to the land, but the enemy was still there trying to remove them from the land.
Through the failures of the children of Israel and their worship of the idols, God allowed the enemies to come – from the north, from Egypt, and eventually from Babylon, until most of the people of Israel were taken into captivity in Babylon.
This is the enemy’s strategy, to take us captive away from the good land – the all-inclusive and preeminent Christ – so that we would not build up the house and kingdom of God.
Satan is all the time trying to take us away from the all-inclusive, extensive Christ; the first thing he does is to blind us from seeing, for he knows that once we see this Christ, we enter into the experience of Christ.
Seeing the vision is not a mental exercise but a spiritual seeing with our renewed mind.
We may have a time with the Lord in the morning and we enjoy Him, and then right away the enemy comes through a word from others, our spouse’s attitude, our job, a phone call, a text message, driving to work, etc – to remove us from the enjoyment of Christ.
Satan’s intention is all the time to remove us from the enjoyment of the all-inclusive and preeminent Christ, but God’s desire is to recover us and bring us back to the enjoyment of Christ.
Praise the Lord, when we fight and return to enjoy Christ, when we enjoy the riches of the all-inclusive and preeminent Christ, we are built up to be His Body as the house of God and the kingdom of God.
So we need to be on the alert, not allowing the enemy to take us out of the enjoyment of this all-inclusive, extensive Christ, but daily being supplied bountifully by the Spirit, we want to enjoy Christ for the church as the house of God and the kingdom of God!
Whether we are in a good environment or a “prison environment”, we need to draw from the riches of this bountiful supply of the Spirit, the reality of the good land!
Lord Jesus, recover us and bring us back to the enjoyment of the all-inclusive, extensive Christ as the reality of the good land so that we may be built as the house of God and the kingdom of God on earth. Amen, Lord, may we see the enemy’s tactics to blind us from receiving the revelation of the all-inclusive and preeminent Christ, and may we fight to remain in the enjoyment of Christ for the church! Lord, it is Your desire for us to be in the enjoyment and experience of the all-inclusive Christ, so please do this in us!
Read this article in the Romanian language / citiți acest articol și în limba română la următorul link, Să savurăm porțiunea alocată din Cristosul atotinclusiv pentru a fi zidiți ca biserică.
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. Ricky Acosta for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Colossians, msgs. 6, 20-21 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Knowing and Experiencing the All-inclusive, Extensive Christ (2019 Thanksgiving Conference), week 2 on the topic of, Knowing and Experiencing the All-inclusive, Extensive Christ as the Good Land — Our Allotted Portion.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Oh, what a preeminent Christ! / You have the first place in all things. / Your name is above every name, / Exalted by God, Lord and King. / My portion is Yourself alone, / Allotted by God in the light. / I hold You as my Head today. / Lord, You are my focus, my life. (Song on, Oh, What a Preeminent Christ)
– The good land has been given— / ’Tis Christ in all He is! / Let’s claim Him with boldness, / Stand on God’s promises! / He’s our allotted portion, / So vast, immeasurable! / Unsearchable riches! / He’s inexhaustible! (Song on, The good land has been given)
– On the third day God designed / That the waters be confined. / In our lives dry land must be; / No more death and no more sea! / God commands: death’s water halt! / Christ, the good land, we exalt! / Separated from all strife / We enjoy Christ as our life. (Hymns #1192)
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