In Col. 1:12 Paul employs the concept of the all-inclusive land when he spoke of the allotted portion of the saints in the light, and in Col. 2:6-7 we are told about walking in Him, having been rooted and being built up in Him as the good land.
Hallelujah, God the Father has qualified us, the believers in Christ, for a share of the allotted portion of the saints in the light!
In the Old Testament we see the type of the good land being allotted to the children of Israel, not as a whole but tribe by tribe, family by family, and even individual by individual.
In the New Testament we see the fulfillment of this in Col. 1:12 where Paul clearly speaks of the spiritual application of the allotment of the good land to the believers in Christ.
God didn’t just tell the children of Israel, Here is the land, take it, it’s all yours.
No, the land was allotted tribe by tribe, and then within the tribes, it was allotted family by family, and within the family, it was allotted person by person.
Everyone who was part of God’s people had their own allotted portion of the land.
This makes sense, for the whole land is too big for any person or even any tribe to occupy and possess.
In the spiritual application, our Christ is too vast and all-inclusive for one person or one group of people to enjoy and apprehend. We all have a portion of Christ, the all-inclusive good land.
And we need to enter into the inheritance and possession of the good land, so that we may fulfill the goal of God’s economy, which is to build up the church as the Body of Christ and establish the kingdom of God.
In the Old Testament we see two figures for God’s building: in the wilderness, we see the tabernacle, and later in the good land we see the temple; both of these are God’s dwelling place, but there’s a big difference.
The tabernacle was built in the wilderness, and it was movable; it wasn’t a permanent dwelling for God.
The temple, however, was in the city of God, Jerusalem, and in the specific place where God chose to put His name, in Zion.
In the New Testament, the tabernacle corresponds to the general church life, while the temple corresponds to the reality of the Body of Christ, which is God’s goal in this age, and which will consummate in the New Jerusalem in the next age.
We need to enter into the enjoyment of our allotted portion of the good land to labor on Christ, produce Christ, walk in Christ, be built up in Christ, and grow in Christ, so that we may contribute to the building up of the church as the Body of Christ. Amen!
May we all be diligent to labor on the good land and enter into the reality of the Body of Christ in our lifetime!
The All-inclusive Christ has been Allotted to us as the Allotted Portion of the Saints
The allotment of the good land in the Old Testament is not an insignificant matter, for Paul employs this concept in Col. 1:12 when he says that the Father has qualified us for a share of the allotted portion of the saints in the light.
When he wrote this, Paul clearly had the concept of the good land and its allotment in mind, for he realize that the all-inclusive Christ has been allotted to us, the believers in Christ, as the allotted portion of the saints in the light.
The Greek word rendered “portion” in this verse can also be rendered “lot”, referring to an allotment.
In other words, Christ is our “lot”, our allotted portion, for us to enjoy, labor on, live in, dwell in, have our being in, be supplied by, and build up the church as the house of God.
Most likely, when Paul was writing the Epistle to the Colossians, he had in mind the picture of the allotting of the good land to the children of Israel, and he used the word “portion” with the Old Testament record of the land as the background (Josh. 14:2).
In Colossians, we see the all-inclusive Christ, the Christ who is all-inclusive and extensive replacing our culture for the one new man.
This Christ, the all-inclusive One, has been allotted to us to be our portion, our lot (Col. 1:15-19; 2:6-15).
Just as the good land of Canaan was everything to the children of Israel, providing them with all the produce that they needed for their living and work, and being the place where they build the temple as God’s dwelling place, so the all-inclusive Christ is everything to us in our Christian life.
Our inheritance as New Testament believers is not a physical land, a piece of land somewhere; it is the all-inclusive Christ as the life-giving Spirit (Col. 2:6-7; Gal. 3:14).
This Christ is the rich good land which was allotted to us, and the entire New Testament is required for the description and unveiling of this rich One.
In Col. 2:6-15 in particular we see how rich He is; in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and we have been made full in Him. Christ is the Head of all rule and authority.
In Christ, we have been circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands but in the circumcision of Christ, for we have been buried together with Him in baptism and raised together with Him through the faith of the operation of God.
Though we were dead in our offenses and in the uncircumcision of our flesh, He made us alive together with Him, and He wiped the handwriting in ordinances which were against us – He took it away, nailing it to the cross! Hallelujah!
On the cross He stripped off the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, and in resurrection, He became the reality of all the positive things in the universe.
In Him is the element needed to eradicate and kill our culture, which is the ultimate replacement of Christ.
And this One, the all-inclusive Christ as the allotted portion of the saints in the light, He is the Spirit; He was processed and consummated to become the all-inclusive, life-giving, bountifully-supplying Spirit in our spirit.
The blessing of Abraham is the good land, the reality of which is Christ as the Spirit.
How in the Spirit we enjoy all the unsearchable riches of Christ in different aspects, for these unsearchable riches are part of the bountiful supply of the Spirit to the believers in Christ (Deut. 8:7-10; Eph. 3:8; Phil. 1:19). Hallelujah!
As we enjoy the riches of the land, as we enjoy the all-inclusive Christ as the allotted portion of the saints in the light, we 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).
Lord Jesus, we want to enjoy and experience You as our allotted portion. We come to enjoy You, partake of You, and possess Your riches, for we have been qualified by the Father to enjoy the allotted portion of the saints in the light. Hallelujah, our inheritance as believers in Christ is the all-inclusive Christ as the life-giving Spirit. Amen, Lord, we exercise our spirit to enjoy the unsearchable riches of Christ in the different aspects of the bountiful supply of the Spirit! We don’t want to miss out on enjoying and experiencing the riches of Christ as part of our allotted portion. Amen, Lord, keep us enjoying Your riches so that we may be built up to be Your Body as the house of God and the kingdom of God!
Having been Rooted in Christ, we Walk in Him and are being Built up in Him as the Rich soil of the Good Land
Col. 2:6-7 also speaks of the good land but in a different aspect; here we see that we have been rooted in Him and we’re being built up in Him, so we should walk in Him.
Through our regeneration, we have been planted into Christ, the rich soil of the good land; now we are rooted in Christ.
Christ is our soil, our earth, and we are like plants rooted in Him as the soil.
Christ as the processed, all-inclusive Triune God is our land, and we have been planted in Him; we are now rooted in the living Christ who is our good land. He is the fertile soil in which we are growing.
Even more, this soil is living and moving; we are rooted in Christ as the living and moving soil, so when He moves, we move.
Our walking in the land is not our walking – it is His walking, and we walk in His walking. Our walking in Christ as the good land is our growing in Him.
Christ is moving, we are rooted in Christ, and when He moves, we also move; as He walks, so we also walk, and we walk in His walk and He walks in our walk.
If we don’t have a heart to seek the Lord, however, we don’t walk when He walks, for we don’t cooperate with Him in His moving.
But if we are those who love the Lord and pursue Him, we are willing to cooperate with Him, for we send our roots deep down in Him, we absorb His riches, and we are constituted with Him; we, therefore, walk in Christ and are being built up in Him.
We should always cooperate with the Lord and say Amen whenever He moves; we should be very active and aggressive in Him.
Through this experience of walking in Christ, we absorb the riches of Christ.
We are planted in this Christ; we are planted in the land so that we may be rooted in Him and grow in Him. Our growth in Christ is our being built up in Him.
We grow by absorbing His riches in our personal time with Him. Just as a plant grows by absorbing the rich nutrients in the soil, so we grow by absorbing the rich nutrients of Christ, the rich soil into whom we’re rooted.
And as we grow with the growth of God, we are built up corporately as the Body of Christ. We need to cooperate with the Lord by absorbing Him and being one with Him to walk in Him; as we absorb Him, there’s an increase of God in us.
This increase of God in us by our absorbing the riches of Christ is the growth of God, and this growth is for the building up of the Body of Christ.
How we thank and praise the Lord that we have been rooted in Him – He’s the allotted portion of the saints in the light, and we have been planted in Christ as the rich, all-inclusive land!
When we realize that we have been rooted in Christ, we will automatically walk in Him. Having been rooted in Christ, we now walk in Him; we remain in Christ, and He does the walking.
Our walking is His walking. May we walk in the land, enjoy the riches of the all-inclusive Christ as the allotted portion of the saints, and may we grow with the growth of God in us for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ!
Hallelujah, we have been rooted in Christ as the all-inclusive good land, and we are now walking in Him and being built up in Him. Amen, Lord, we open to You again and again in our time with You to absorb the riches of Christ into whom we’re rooted. We want to absorb and enjoy the unsearchable riches of Christ, the One into whom we’re rooted and in whom we’re built up. Amen, Lord, we want to walk in Christ even as He walks and moves in our walk. Keep us abiding in You, absorbing You, and enjoying You, so that the unsearchable riches of Christ may be constituted into our being to cause us to grow with the growth of God for the building up of the Body of Christ.
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 Conclusion of the New Testament (msgs. 24, 44, 352), 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.
- Hymns on this topic:
– What a Christ we have, the all-inclusive One, / Our allotted portion, set apart in light. / In the kingdom of the Son of God, the Son of God’s love, / Here He rules us in the light of His love. (Song on, What a Christ We Have)
– All things are but a shadow / Which unto us reveal / Thyself, in whom we’re rooted, / The only One that’s real. / Enjoying all Thy riches, / Thy fulness we will be; / We’ll hold Thee, as Thy Body, / And grow with God in Thee. (Hymns #189)
– For my words I take His wisdom, / For my works His Spirit’s power; / For my ways His ceaseless presence / Guards and guides me every hour. / Of my heart, He is the portion, / Of my joy the boundless spring; / Savior, Sanctifier, Healer, / Glorious Lord, and coming King. (Hymns #564)
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