Our Christ – the preeminent and all-inclusive One – is our allotted portion, and the purpose of God’s calling is to bring us into the enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ, typified by the good land flowing with milk and honey. Hallelujah for our all-inclusive Christ!
This week in our crystallization-study of Deuteronomy we come to the matter of, The Goodness of the Land – Its Food.
Most Bible readers understand that the Old Testament contains various types of Christ which are applied to us in the New Testament.
For example, the Passover lamb in the Old Testament is a type of Christ, who is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). So Christ is the real Passover lamb.
Then in John 6 the Lord Jesus said that the manna, the bread that came down out of heaven, was not the real bread that Moses gave, but He Himself is the bread of life whom the Father sent from heaven to give life to the world; so manna was a type of Christ.
Likewise, in John 3:14 we see the bronze serpent; John tells us that, in the same way that Moses lifted up the serpent in Num. 21, so the Son of Man would be lifted up. So it is clear that the bronze serpent was a type of Christ, who is the real bronze serpent.
However, very few readers of the Bible have seen the greatest type of Christ in the Old Testament, that is, the good land of Canaan being a type of the all-inclusive Christ. The land that God promised His people Israel – the good land of Canaan, is a type of the all-inclusive Christ.
What verse or portion in the New Testament makes it clear that the land of Canaan is a type of Christ? It is Col. 1:12, where we see the allotted portion – Christ is our allotted portion.
This is the key to understanding that Paul’s view as he was writing Colossians is that the land allotted to all the saints is Christ.
In Exo. 3:8 God called Moses and told him that He wants to bring His people out of the usurpation of Egypt and Pharaoh and bring them into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey. This is how God describes the land: a good, spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey.
Then in Deut. 8 as Moses speaks to the people according to God, he also describes the land as God does, calling it a good land. In Deut. 26:9 he said that it is a land flowing with milk and honey.
This is not just a poetic description of the land – it is a description of the all-inclusive Christ, and we can enter into the enjoyment of this One in our daily experience today!
Christ is our Allotted Portion; we are Joined to Christ and are Enjoying His Riches!
Col. 1:12 tells us that God has qualified us for a share of the allotted portion of the saints in the light. Christ as the preeminent and all-inclusive One, is the allotted portion of the saints.
What does God want to give each and ever one of His believers in the New Testament? It is not just grace, forgiveness of sins, faith, or love; He wants to give us Christ, the all-inclusive Christ as our allotted portion.
The portion that God has ordained for every single believer is Christ, and we all have an allotted portion of Christ.
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 (see John 14:1).
In Joshua we see that first every tribe gets a section of the land, then every household gets a part of that section, and then every individual in that household has a share in that portion; eventually every Israelite had an allotted portion of the land of Canaan.
We believers in the New Testament are not allotted a portion of a physical land; rather, our allotted portion is the all-inclusive Christ as the life-giving Spirit! Amen!
As we have therefore received Christ, Jesus the Lord, we should walk in Him as the good land, having been rooted and being built up in Him (Col. 2:6-7). The land in which we’re rooted and in which we can walk is just Christ.
As seen in Gal. 3:14, we inherit the blessing given to Abraham, which is the promise of the Spirit through faith. Where is Christ today? He is in the Spirit; we can enjoy our allotted portion of the all-inclusive Christ in the Spirit. Hallelujah, our portion is the all-inclusive Christ as the Spirit.
The riches of the good land typify the unsearchable riches of Christ in different aspects as the bountiful supply to His believers in His Spirit (Deut. 8:7-10; Eph. 3:8; Phil. 1:19).
Our Christ is so rich, and His unsearchable riches are typified by the riches of the good land of Canaan; we can enjoy the riches of Christ in the bountiful supply of the Spirit.
As we enjoy the riches of the land, we as believers in Christ are built up to be the Body of Christ 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).
Something is produced in us as we enjoy our allotted portion of Christ as the good land – we’re being built up together to be the Body of Christ as the house of God and the kingdom of God.
One particularly sweet aspect of enjoying Christ as our allotted portion of the good land is that as we do this, God’s eyes are upon us continually and care for us constantly!
Because we’re practically joined to Christ as the reality of the good land and we are enjoying His riches, God’s eyes are upon us continually, causing us to enjoy God’s presence and making us the object of His care (Deut. 11:12; Rev. 1:14; 5:6; 2 Chron. 16:9; Psa. 32:8).
In Deut. 11:12 we are told that the good land is a land which Jehovah cares for, and His eyes are always upon it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.
God is intensely focused on the all-inclusive Christ, and we are joined to Christ; so God cares for us, shepherds us, and makes sure He brings us into the full enjoyment of our inheritance of Christ. Night and day, He watches over us and shepherds us to enjoy Christ!
Thank You Father for qualifying us for an allotted portion of the all-inclusive Christ as the life-giving Spirit! Hallelujah, we all can enjoy Christ as our allotted portion, and we can feed on and be constituted with His unsearchable riches! Amen, Lord, we come to You, we exercise our spirit, and we open to You to just enjoy You as our allotted portion so that we may be built up as the Body of Christ today! Thank You Father for giving us such an all-inclusive Christ, and thank You for watching over us and shepherding us all the days of our life so that we may enter into the full enjoyment of Christ!
Being brought into the Enjoyment of the All-inclusive Christ as the Good Land Flowing with Milk and Honey
As seen in type in Exo. 3:8, the purpose of God’s calling is to bring us, His chosen people, into the enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ, typified by the good land flowing with milk and honey (see 1 Cor. 1:2, 9).
This expression, “land flowing with milk and honey” is not merely a poetic description of the land but something very significant and enjoyable, and it can be applied to our Christian experience.
Milk and honey – which are the mingling of both the animal life and the vegetable life – are two aspects of the life of Christ, that is, the redeeming aspect and the generating aspect (see Deut. 8:8; 26:9; cf. John 1:29; 12:24).
Milk and honey involve both the animal life and the vegetable life in their production; an animal and some plants are involved in the producing of milk and honey.
The vegetable life and the animal life symbolize two major aspects of the death of Christ, the life-releasing aspect and the redeeming aspect.
The redeeming aspect can be seen in John 1:29, where Christ is introduced as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world; the animal life symbolizes the redeeming aspect of Christ’s death.
The life-releasing aspect, the generating aspect, can be seen in John 12:24 where the Lord said that He’s like the grain of wheat falling into the earth to die and produce many grains.
The grain of wheat is a vegetable with nothing to do with the aspect of redemption but with the multiplication of life.
The redeeming aspect of Christ’s life is for our judicial redemption, and the generating aspect of Christ’s life is for our organic salvation (John 1:29; 12:24; Rev. 2:7; 22:14; Rom. 5:10).
God’s assessment of the good land is that it is flowing with milk and honey; this applies to our experience by our realization that in Christ judicial redemption and organic salvation are flowing all the time.
Hallelujah, we can receive and enjoy the flow of the judicial redemption and the organic salvation!
As Rom. 5:17 says, those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.
The abundance of grace is the organic salvation, and the gift of righteousness is the judicial redemption; our job is simply to receive!
The complete salvation of God is flowing in the all-inclusive Christ as the good land, and we need to open our mouth and exercise our spirit to receive it! We enjoy and experience the all-inclusive Christ flowing with milk and honey – His judicial redemption and His organic salvation – not once for all but every day and continually!
We need to every day wash our robes (apply Christ’s judicial redemption) and come to eat the tree of life (His organic salvation)!
The symbols of the Lord’s table – the bread and the wine – signify the redeeming and generating aspects of Christ’s life for God’s complete salvation (Matt. 26:26-28; 1 Cor. 10:16-17). Hallelujah, the good land has become a table a feast for our enjoyment!
When we have the Lord’s table, we are in the good land, in the land flowing with milk and honey!
By enjoying Christ as the land of milk and honey, we will be constituted with Him as milk and honey; like the seeker in the Song of Songs, our lips will drip with fresh honey, and honey and milk are under our tongue (see S. S. 4:11; 1 Pet. 2:2; Psa. 119:103).
How can we apply this? In 1 Pet. 2:2 we are told that we should drink the milk of the word, and in Psa. 119:103 we see that the word of God is sweeter than honey to our mouth.
Hallelujah, we can pray over the word of God and enjoy God in His word, and as we do this, we enjoy milk and honey until we are filled with Christ and overflow with Him!
Lord Jesus, we come to You with an exercised spirit and a turned heart to enjoy You as the good land flowing with milk and honey! Hallelujah, in Christ we can enjoy His judicial redemption and His organic salvation flowing! Amen, Lord, may we receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness today! We come to wash our robes and eat of the tree of life. Praise the Lord, we can enjoy the all-inclusive Christ as the land flowing with milk and honey by praying over the word of God to be filled with Christ and even overflow with Him to others!
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, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1961-1962, vol. 4, “The All-inclusive Christ,” pp. 247-248, 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 called us for His purpose, / His economy so glorious, / For which He was fully processed; / Consummated now is He! / As the Spirit, He indwells us; / As our God allotted portion, / Working out His full salvation, / Making us the same as He is. (Song on, God has called us for His purpose)
– 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)
– Jesus, the all-inclusive land, / Is everything to me: / A Christ of brooks, of depths and streams, / And fountains bubbling free. / Springing from valleys and from hills, / Flowing till every part He fills, / He waters us—how glorious— / By His life! (Hymns #1164)
