The good land is a land of fig trees, signifying the sweetness and satisfaction of Christ as our supply to make us a channel of supply for others also. Also, the good land is a land of pomegranates, typifying the fullness of life, the abundance and beauty of life, and the expression of the riches of life.
What a rich Christ we have – He is everything we need, and in Him we have no lack!
In Deut. 8 the sequence of the items of the good land is very significant – first we have wheat, then barley, then vine, and then fig trees.
These are not random fruits put together to show how rich the land is; rather, they point to our experience of Christ, the all-inclusive One, who is the reality of the good land.
First we experience Christ as the wheat, the One who is limited and persecuted, the One who fell into the ground and die to produce many grains. This is the incarnated and crucified Christ, and He is our experience whenever we turn to Him as we pass through limiting and restricting circumstances.
As we turn to Him, He becomes not only the One who enables us to live in such limiting situations, but even the unlimited and resurrected One, the One who is feeds us and causes us to become a supply to others!
This is Christ as the barley; as the barley, Christ is the firstfruits of resurrection and He is the unlimited One, for He is able to feed all men even from just five barley loaves.
As we experience Him and eat Him, we ourselves are able to feed others with the Christ that we have enjoyed and experienced.
Then we can experience Christ as the vine tree, as the One who was pressed and crushed to produce new wine to cheer God and make man happy.
Christ lived a sacrificing life, and as we turn to Him, we are inwardly energised to live a sacrificing life for God’s satisfaction and cheer, and for man to be happy.
We may think that our experience of Christ as the barley is the end goal, for we experience Him as the unlimited One; but this unlimited One leads us to the experience of Himself as the One who was pressed and crushed, the One who sacrificed Himself.
The Lord is faithful to bring us through situations and circumstances in which we are crushed and pressed, and because we have drunk Christ as the new wine and we experience Him as the vine tree, we also can sacrifice ourselves for others to be happy as they drink the new wine of Christ! Hallelujah!
Enjoying the Sweetness and Satisfaction of Christ as our Supply and becoming Channels of Supply
Hallelujah, Christ as our good land is a land of fig trees, signifying the sweetness and satisfaction of Christ as our supply (Deut. 8:8; Num. 13:23; Judg. 9:11).
As we turn to the Lord and enjoy Him, we experience Him first as the limited One (the incarnated and crucified One), the resurrected and unlimited One, the One who sacrifices Himself, and then we enjoy Him as the One who is sweet and satisfying.
Figs are a type of Christ as the sweet and satisfying One to be our supply; first we need to enjoy Him as such a one, and as we do this, we become a channel of supply to others.
Paul was a pattern of one who experienced and enjoyed the sweetness and satisfaction of Christ as his supply.
As we see particularly in the book of Philippians (see Phil. 1:7, 18-19; 2:17-18; 3:1; 4:4, 10-13), even though he was in prison, he rejoiced and asked others to also rejoice with him!
Though he was in such a limiting and confining situation, Paul didn’t ask the saints to pray for his release or to get him out of there; rather, he desired that while in prison he would magnify Christ and enjoy Christ and live Christ.
He was really experiencing Christ as the good land even in his confinement. Although Paul’s desire was to depart and be with Christ, he was willing to remain in the flesh for the sake of the saints’ progress and joy of the faith (Phil. 1:21-26).
The truth is that, through Paul as a channel, the saints could experience Christ and have the progress and joy of the faith.
We all need to be such ones – we need to experience Christ as the land of fig trees, enjoying the sweetness and satisfaction of Christ as our supply, so that we may become channels of supply.
There’s an urgent need for channels of supply, for if the saints are to experience Christ, someone must serve as a channel of supply.
Paul was a very important member of the Body – if he would be lost to the Body, the Body would have been deprived of a very important means of spiritual blessing.
It should matter to the church where we are whether we live or die; whether this is true or not depends on the degree to which we live Christ, minister Christ, and infuse others with Christ.
It is such a sad thing if it doesn’t matter to the church whether you are in the meetings or not, because the saints are not helped in their progress of the faith through you….Oh Lord Jesus!
There’s an urgent need for means of supply, channels of supply, even if there’s one or two in one country, so that the saints would receive the supply to us.
We thank the Lord that some among us are real channels of supply, and we need to pray that we would not end our course as a person who is inconsequential to the building up of the church!
May we be like Paul, a partaker of grace, rejoicing in the Lord greatly, and may our joy in the Lord do not diminish as time goes by (Phil. 4:4; 2:2; 3:1; 4:10).
May we exercise to enjoy the sweetness and satisfaction of Christ as our supply, and may we be channels of supply who both receive the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ and minister the Spirit to others (Phil. 1:19; 4:23).
Lord Jesus, we want to enjoy and experience the sweetness and satisfaction of Christ as our supply so that we may also become channels of supply to others. Amen, Lord, we come to You to enjoy You and experience You as the reality of the fig tree, the One who is so sweet and satisfying to us all the time. Only You can cause us to rejoice and be happy even in trying and confining situations. Lord, produce us as a channel of supply for others’ progress and joy of the faith. May it matter to the church whether we live or die, and may we be channels of supply in the Body!
Enjoying Christ as the Fullness of Life, the Abundance and Beauty of Life expressed in Humanity
The good land is a land of pomegranates; pomegranates typify the fullness of life, the abundance and beauty of life, and the expression of the riches of life (see Deut. 8:8; Exo. 28:33-34; 1 Kings 7:18-20).
The pomegranates are full of seeds, signifying abundant life.
In the temple there were two pillars, and on top they had capitals, and on the capitals there were two hundred pomegranates in rows round the capitals; it’s almost as if the temple was crowned with the abundance of life.
Furthermore, at the bottom part of the high priest’s robe there were pomegranates and bells, and on the robe there were pomegranates embroidered.
The bottom of the priestly robe signifies the church; the church should be full of life in her humanity – this is the significance of pomegranates made of linen. The church has humanity for the expression of the fullness of life and also divinity for the sounding of the golden bells.
The fullness of life is expressed in the church’s humanity, but the voice of warning is expressed in the church’s divinity (signified by the golden bells).
There are always two sides, for there is a balance.
When the high priest went into the tabernacle, he had golden bells around the bottom of his robe so that the people outside would hear the sound of the bells and know he is alive; the bells were for warning.
We first have the expression of the fullness of life and then the sounding of the golden bells, that is, the speaking from the divinity of the church. The beauty of life expressed in our humanity and the divine sounding from the golden bells are signs of a proper church life.
The two hundred pomegranates surrounding the capitals at the top of the pillars in the temple signify the expression of the riches of life (see 1 Kings 7:18-20; 2 Chron 3:15-16; Jer. 52:22-23; Rev. 3:12).
The two pillars were made of bronze, signifying judgement; on top of the pillars there were pomegranates arranged in rows.
If we are those who judge themselves (as typified by the bronze) and regard ourselves as nothing, we will be able to bear responsibility in full in the midst of intermixed and complicated situation (as signified by the nets of checker work and wreaths of chain work) because we live not by ourselves but by the faith in God (signified by the lily work).
Thus, we express the riches of life two hundredfold (as signified by the two hundred pomegranates).
The burden and responsibility borne by the pillars in the family, in the church, and in the ministry is always in a complicated and intermixed situation.
This should not discourage us but rather encourage us; sometimes we think that things are so complicated and intermixed so there must be something wrong, and we may even want to get out of such situations – but we can’t!
We may want to straighten out one complication, and then three others come out to take its place. We may make one matter clear, and the whole situation becomes more unclear.
The more we try to make a situation understandable, the more it will be misunderstood. The more we try to explain ourselves, the more misunderstanding there will be, and the misunderstanding will even multiply.
May we all learn to avoid misunderstanding by saying as little as possible.
Sometimes even saying, Praise the Lord! to our wife may cause her to think that we condemn her by our praising, thinking we are more spiritual than her. Oh Lord Jesus!
In Jer. 52:22-23 we see that out of every one hundred pomegranates, ninety-six were exposed to the open air, and four were covered.
The expression of the riches of life is eternally complete, in the freshness of resurrection, and in the Spirit.
But the fact that four of every one hundred pomegranates were hidden indicates that our natural being, our natural life, and our self must be concealed; when our natural being disappears, we have the rich expression of the life of Christ in the reality of the spiritual air!
Lord Jesus, we want to enjoy You as the fullness of life, the abundance and beauty of life, and the expression of the riches of life! Amen, Lord, may we all enjoy You as the abundance of life in the church life, and may we heed to the warning of the word of God! Keep us enjoying You, Lord, and judging ourselves so that we can bear responsibility in full in the midst of an intermixed and complicated situation, living not by ourselves but by faith in God so that we may express the riches of life! Lord, may our natural life, our natural being, and our self be concealed, and may the rich expression of Christ be manifested in the reality of the spiritual air!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. Mark Raabe for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Philippians, msg. 7 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Deuteronomy, week 3, The Goodness of the Land – Its Food.
- Hymns on this topic:
– God has made the fruit to grow here, / Filled the land with produce sweet: / Olive oil and pomegranates, / Fig trees, honey, vines and wheat. / We need nothing else besides, / All we need the land provides. (Hymns #1166)
– See the fig trees, Christ’s sweetness our supply. / To progress in the joy of all our faith, / Be a channel of supply so others experience Christ, / And be happy in the bountiful supply. (Song on, What a Christ We Have)
– Jesus is now the land of wheat— / Incarnate, crucified. / But resurrection life is He / By barley signified. / He is a land of figs and vines— / Blood of the grape, the cheering wine. / With such supplies He satisfies— / Christ our land! (Hymns #1164)
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