The good land is the ultimate type of Christ found in the Scriptures; the land of Canaan is a type of the Christ who is all and in all and who is everything to us – the all-inclusive Christ to be our all in all. Amen!
The book of Joshua – we are now in a crystallization-study of this book – is a book with profound types.
It is one thing for us to read this book and try to understand and remember the events, and it is another thing for us to know what do the types in this book signify.
Joshua himself signifies Christ in so many aspects, and many of the events and matters in the book of Joshua are fulfilled in our experience in the New Testament.
As Paul said in 1 Cor. 10, these things were written for our benefit, for our learning, to be a type of the things to come, and to signify what we experience spiritually.
May we learn to open to the Lord when we read the Bible, and may we use the Scriptures themselves to interpret the Scriptures.
We can’t take things out of context, we can’t just apply certain types to what we want to apply them, and we can’t use things in the Bible to mean what we desire them to mean or what we want them to be.
It is good to take the types in the Old Testament and see how they apply in the New Testament, so that we may pray over them and ask the Lord to apply them to our spiritual experience.
For example, in the book of Joshua we see that there’s the river Jordan which needed to be crossed before entering the good land; many Christians say that it signifies our physical death, after which we enter into “heaven”, which they think is typified by the good land. But this is not what the Bible reveals.
The New Testament shows us that the good land is the ultimate type of Christ, for the land of Canaan is a type of the Christ who is all and in all to us.
The river Jordan signifies death, but not the physical death but the death of Christ applied to our natural man, our self, and our flesh so that we as the new man would enter into the enjoyment and experience of the all-inclusive Christ in resurrection.
After the children of Israel crossed the river Jordan, they became a new people, they even raised a monument with stones from the river (and put some stones in the river), and they proceeded to take the land.
This is such a wonderful type of our experience of Christ in His death so that we may live in resurrection and serve Him in newness of life and in newness of spirit.
May the Lord as the Spirit of reality guide us into the reality of the types we see in the book of Joshua and their spiritual application in our Christian life.
The Good Land of Canaan is the Ultimate Type of Christ found in the Scriptures
In Deut. 8:7-9 we see a beautiful description of the good land of Canaan into which God was to bring His people; this good land is the ultimate type of Christ found in the Scriptures.
The good land is a type of the all-inclusive Christ, the Christ who is all and in all, the Christ who is everything to us.
There are many types of Christ in the Old Testament, but none of them is all-inclusive or ultimate concerning Christ.
The good land, the land of Canaan, is a type of the Christ who is all and in all and who is everything to us (Eph. 3:8).
For example, in Exodus we see types such as the Passover, the manna, the tabernacle with its furniture, and all the offerings; all these depict various aspects of Christ.
Our Christ is so rich, so wonderful, so all-inclusive, and so extensive that He needs many types and pictures to depict Him and express Him.
The ultimate type of Christ found in the entire Bible is the good land.
Actually, the land itself is a figure, a symbol, of Christ; the land that came out of the death water on the third day (Gen. 1:9-10, 13) is a type of the resurrected Christ who came out of death on the third day.
The fact that many kinds of life – including the vegetable life, the animal life, and the human life – came out of the land (Gen. 1:11-12, 24-25) signifies that Christ is the source of all kinds of life.
Out of Christ springs out life, rich life, and life in its richness. God’s intention in the Scriptures reveals that Christ should be our land – He’s the good land, the elevated land, the land that comes out of the death water, and the land that springs forth with life.
In the Old Testament, we see the matter of the land again and again; God wants His people to gain the land and live in the land, so that they may become His kingdom to represent Him and His building to express Him.
The crucial focus of the entire Old Testament is the land – God called Abraham and promised to bring him to a certain land, the land of Canaan, which He will give to him and to his descendants (Gen. 12:1).
Even though Abraham did not see this with his own eyes, he believed God, and he became the father of those who take the land by faith.
Later, Abraham’s descendants were in Egypt, even in slavery, so God came in to rescue them and deliver them through Moses, and He brought them through the wilderness back to the good land.
God desires to give His people the good land, which is the ultimate type of Christ – it is Christ as our all in all, the all-inclusive Christ as our everything.
Today as the spiritual people of God we need to realize that God desires to give us His Christ, the all-inclusive Christ, to be our everything and our all in all.
The good land of Canaan typifies the all-inclusive Christ with His unsearchable riches for us to enjoy, partake of, experience, and possess.
We may be taken into captivity in the world or we may live in the flesh or the self, but the Lord keeps drawing us back to Himself, back to the enjoyment and experience of Himself as the all-inclusive good land.
Thank You, Lord Jesus, for being the reality of the good land to us. Amen, Lord, we come to enjoy You as the all-inclusive Christ with all Your unsearchable riches. We want to enjoy You to the extent that You become everything to us. Amen, Lord, become our all in all, the One who meets all our needs, the One who has unsearchable riches for us to enjoy and partake of. Bring us back to the enjoyment and experience of Yourself as the all-inclusive, extensive One. Save us from being enslaved or usurped by any aspect of the world. Amen, Lord Jesus, become everything to us in our experience. Be our all in all.
The Good Land Typifies the All-inclusive Christ with His Unsearchable Riches for our Enjoyment
Our Christ is all-inclusive and extensive for us to enjoy, partake of, and experience. In verse after verse, chapter after chapter, and book after book in the Bible we see more and more aspects of the all-inclusive Christ.
The good land of Canaan is the ultimate type of Christ found in the Scriptures; it typifies the all-inclusive Christ with His unsearchable riches for our enjoyment.
Deut. 8:7-9 gives us a great description of the good land, showing us the many aspects of this land for Israel’s enjoyment and experience.
This land is a land of water-brooks, springs and of fountains. Christ is the living water – out of Him flows living water, and all those who are thirsty can come to Him to drink (John 7:39).
Even as we feast and enjoy things in this world, we may think we are satisfied, but the Lord still cries out for us to come to Him and drink, for nothing of the water given by this world satisfies – only the Lord as the living water satisfies.
We may be on a high mountain or in a valley; we may be on a hill or in a valley – wherever we are, the Lord flows to us as living water.
This land, the good land as the ultimate type of Christ, is a land of wheat and barley and fig trees and pomegranates.
This all sounds good humanly speaking, but spiritually all these have a very deep significance and application in our Christian experience.
Wheat signifies the incarnated and crucified Christ; He said He is the grain of wheat that fell into the ground and died and was buried to produce many grains in his resurrection (John 12:24).
Wheat represents the Christ who was incarnated to be a man, who fell into the ground to die and be buried. Hallelujah for such a Christ!
The barley signifies the resurrected Christ; barley is the first to ripen, representing the firstfruits. The firstfruits of the harvest were to be offered to God (Lev. 23); these were barley.
According to 1 Cor. 15:20, Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep; Christ is the firstfruits of resurrection.
Barley typifies the resurrected Christ, and the barley loaves with which the Lord fed the five thousand (John 6:9) typify Christ in His resurrection as the life supply to His believers.
This One is for our enjoyment and experience, so that we as the church may become a corporate barley loaf for the Father’s satisfaction and for rolling over the camp of the enemy to defeat him.
The vine typifies Christ as the sacrificing One; just as grapes are crushed so that wine may be produced to cheer man, so Christ was crushed and sacrificed of His own will so that both God and man may be cheered up.
The fig tree with its sweetness and satisfaction signifies Christ as our life supply; He is so sweet, so satisfying, and so nourishing.
The pomegranates signify the abundance and beauty of the life of Christ.
This good land as the ultimate type of Christ typifies the all-inclusive Christ with His unsearchable riches.
It is a land of olive trees with oil and of honey. The olive tree signifies Christ as the man filled with the Spirit and anointed with the Spirit as the oil of exultant joy.
Honey signifies Christ as the sweetest love, and His words are sweet unto our taste. In this and we eat bread without scarcity; Christ as our life supply is available to us, always at hand, and there’s no scarcity.
This land has stones of iron, and from its mountains, you can mine copper; Christ is the reality of the minerals used for building and fighting.
He is also the reality of the animal life with His redeeming life. We need to advance in our enjoyment and experience of Christ until He becomes everything to us.
We are in this together; we are advancing together as a corporate entity.
We are learning from one another, we are encouraging one another, we are fighting for one another, and we’re shepherding one another to advance in the enjoyment, experience, and possession of such a Christ.
Lord Jesus, take us on together in our enjoyment and experience of the all-inclusive Christ with all His unsearchable riches. Amen, Lord, we want to enjoy You as the incarnated and crucified Christ, the One who died and was buried so that many believers may be produced. We come to You to experience You as the resurrected and ascended Christ, even as the One who sacrifices Himself to cheer God and man. Oh Lord, how we love to enjoy Your sweetness and satisfaction as our life supply, and how we love to enjoy and experience the abundance and beauty of the life of Christ. We come to You as the man filled with the Spirit and anointed with the Spirit as the oil of exultant joy. We come to enjoy You in Your richness and sweetness, and we want to experience You as the materials for God’s building and for spiritual warfare. Cause us all to advance in our enjoyment and experience of Christ as the all-inclusive good land!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. Ron Kangas for this week, and portions from, The Conclusion of the New Testament (msg. 44), by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-study of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth (2021 summer training), week 2, Possessing the Land of Canaan by Defeating the Satanic Forces.
- Further reading: recommending, What is the Significance of the good land? (via lsmradio) and, The All-Inclusive Christ (a book by brother Lee).
- Hymns on this topic:
– 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)
– This land includes so many things: / Wheat, barley, vines, deep-flowing springs, / Fig trees and never-failing bread— / O what a land before us spread! / To have the produce and abound / We daily labor on the ground; / Then to the meetings we will bring / The topmost Christ, our offering! (Hymns #1165)
– 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)
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