Christ is the good land, we have been rooted in Him, and we can walk in Christ as our living land and take time to absorb Christ as our rich soil so that we may grow with the elements we absorb from the soil (Col. 2:6-7).
Hallelujah, as believers in Christ we have been rooted in Christ as the rich soil, and now we can walk in Him, grow in Him, and be built up in Him!
As therefore we have received Christ, Jesus the Lord, we should walk in Him, having been rooted and being grounded in Him, and abounding in thanksgiving.
This really describes Paul and Silas in prison, where instead of bemoaning their situation and feeling pity for themselves, they were abounding in thanksgiving, for they were in prison outwardly but they were walking in the good land, being rooted in Christ.
Christ is our good land; He is our lot, our area that we can walk in. We can live, move, have our being, and conduct ourselves in Christ as the good land.
And we walk in Christ by being rooted in Christ; humanly speaking, if you’re rooted you can’t walk, and if you walk you can’t be rooted, but spiritually speaking we can walk in Christ only if we’re rooted in Him.
How can we walk if we’re being rooted? The land into whom we’re rooted is Christ as our living land, and the land is actually walking; we only need to cooperate with His walking, His moving, and this will be our walking – as we stay rooted in Him.
When the Lord is moving and walking, we say Amen! When He is moving in us to do this or that, when He moves in our being that we would stand up and prophesy, we feel that the living land is moving, and we say Amen!
As we walk in Him, we are rooted in Him, and we absorb the riches of Christ. We need to realize that we have been rooted in Christ; this is the key to our experience of Christ as the good land.
This rooting took place initially, but it has to be a continual experience.
May we be like a tree transplanted beside water, which sends out its roots by a stream, and will not be afraid when the heat comes, for its leaves remain flourishing; and it will not be anxious in the year of drought, and will not cease to bear fruit (Jer. 17:8).
May we send out deep roots into Christ as our living good land, and may we find all our supply and nourishment in Him. We need to first take root downward and then we will bear fruit upward (Isa. 37:31).
As we are rooted in Him and absorb His riches, we grow and are built up in Him. This being built up is not being built up in the Body of Christ; rather, just as a tree is built up by its growth, so we are built up by our growth in life as we absorb and enjoy the riches of Christ as our living land.
Our growth in Christ builds us up. We need to be those rooted in Christ, absorbing the riches of Him as the rich soil, and those elements will build us up until we have the measure of the stature of Christ.
If we are not built up in ourselves in the stature of Christ, we can’t be built up with others. This means that we need to grow in life by absorbing the riches of Christ.
As we hold the head, all the Body – being richly supplied and knit together by means of the joints and sinews, grows with the growth of God (Col. 2:19).
God in Himself doesn’t need to grow, but God in us needs to grow, so our growth is with the increase of the element of God in us as we are rooted in Christ to absorb His riches.
Being Rooted in Christ as the Soil, we need to take Time to Absorb Him as the All-inclusive Land
In Col. 2:6-7 Paul tells us that we have been rooted and grounded in Christ and we should walk in Him; then, in vv. 8-15 he presents a full description and definition of Christ as the soil in which we do not lack anything.
Hallelujah, we are rooted in Christ as the rich soil, and in Him we don’t lack anything!
As we take time to absorb Christ as the all-inclusive land, the facts in Col. 2:8-15 become our experience.
First we need to have the revelation to see that we are rooted in Him, and that we are made full in Him, for in Him we lack nothing. In our experience many times we sense lack; but as we take time to absorb the Lord, we will enjoy all that He is as the rich soil, and we will lack nothing.
How can the rich facts in the word of God become our enjoyment and experience? It is not by having a sudden change in our life or in making a decision after we hear a speaking concerning this, but it is by taking time to absorb Christ as the rich soil, the all-inclusive land.
Doing something out of inspiration never works; giving ourselves to spend time with the Lord in private, a personal, intimate, spiritual, affectionate time with Him in His word to absorb Him, this will cause the word of God with all its riches to become our experience.
First we need to see, then we need to take time to absorb Christ, and then we will enter into these things in our experience. There are many riches in Christ as the all-inclusive land, the living land as the rich soil into whom we’re rooted and whom we can absorb, and in this article we will explore two of them.
Absorbing Christ as the One in whom all the Fullness of the Godhead Dwells Bodily to be made Full in Him
Christ as the rich soil into whom we’re rooted is the One in whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily (Col. 1:9).
Fullness refers not to the riches of God but to the expression of God’s riches; what dwells in God is not just the riches of the Godhead but also the expression of the riches of what God is (Col. 1:15, 19; 3:10-11).
What about us, what sort of expression do we have? Do we have Christ in us as the One in whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells, and do we express Christ?
When we’re together with other people, when we are at work or at home with our family, we can enjoy Christ as the fullness of God, and we will have a certain expression – we will express God.
When we are rooted in Christ as the soil, we are made full in Him; this means that we are filled up with all the divine riches to become His expression (Eph. 3:8, 17, 19).
In Christ as the soil we are filled, completed, perfected, satisfied, and thoroughly supplied; in Him, as we absorb His riches, we do not lack anything (Phil. 1:19).
To be made full is to be filled, completed, perfected, satisfied, and thoroughly supplied; this is our lot, our portion.
We are rooted in Christ, we can absorb all His riches, and we can experience being made full in Him at any time and anywhere, as long as we draw the supply! Christ as the soil is the history of God and the mystery of God with all the riches of His person and processes (Col. 2:2).
May we not allow anyone to carry us away from such a soil by uprooting us from it, but may we enjoy Him by absorbing Him in our personal time with Him.
When we enjoy Christ as the One in whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily, this fullness makes us full, completes us, perfects us, satisfies us, accomplishes everything for us, and thoroughly supplies our every need.
Hallelujah, God has planted us into a rich land, and the first element of this land is Christ as the fullness of the Godhead, the expression of God in the old creation and in the new creation.
We have been planted into Christ as the rich soil, and we can absorb the rich nourishment from Him; in Him we are made full, and in Him we are short of nothing. Hallelujah!
Thank You Lord for rooting us in the rich soil of Christ, the all-inclusive land, for us to absorb all His riches, grow, be built up, and express Him! Hallelujah, in Christ dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and as we absorb Him as such a One, in Him we are being made full! Praise the Lord, in Christ we lack nothing but rather we are completed, perfected, satisfied, and thoroughly supplied! Oh, what an inexhaustible fullness is in Christ for our enjoyment!
Absorbing Christ as the Soil – He is the Head of All Rule and Authority!
The second item presented of Christ as the rich soil into whom we’re rooted is that He is the Head of all rule and authority.
The believers in Colossae were distracted by the worship of angels, which sounds “spiritual” but is not according to God’s economy. Paul wanted these believers to realize that they were rooted in Christ, they were made full in Him, and this One whom they absorb as the rich soil is the Head of all rule and authority!
He is the fullness of the Godhead, and He is the Head of all rule and authority; the angels are just one item of God’s creation.
When we absorb Christ in our time with Him, when we enjoy Him as the rich nutrients in the living land, we are made full, complete, and perfect in Him; also, we have a proper attitude toward authority, and we worship God only.
In Christ, as we absorb His riches, we enjoy righteousness, justification, holiness, sanctification, and all that we need.
We have been planted into this fullness, and in Him we lack nothing.
The experiences of crucifixion and resurrection are in this fullness; we have been rooted in Him, and in Him we have no need whatever, for He meets all our needs.
As we take time to absorb the riches of Christ in the rich soil of the living good land, we will have a proper attitude toward the headship of Christ and all authority.
In today’s society both the young and the older ones have an attitude of rebellion against anything that is authority; some even dare to revile the dignities that God put over them.
But as we enjoy the riches of the good land, we absorb Christ, and this One is submissive to authority; He in us enables us to submit in every situation. Real submission is not merely something outward; it comes from within, from the Christ who is our supply and who is the Head of all rule and authority.
Lord, grant us to see that we have been rooted in Christ, the One who is the Head of all rule and authority. We want to take time to absorb this rich Christ and let Him make His home in our heart, imparting all the riches of His being into us. Amen, Lord Jesus, may our inner being be wide open to absorb all of Christ’s riches including His submission to authority. We admit, Lord, that in ourselves we are not submissive and we can’t be submissive, but we can absorb You and You in us can submit to authorities and cause us to have a proper attitude toward authority!
Read this article in the Romanian language / citiți acest articol și în limba română la următorul link, Să petrecem timp să-L absorbim pe Cristos ca solul bogat, țara vie, în care suntem înrădăcinați.
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. 44, 46, 51 (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:
– Take time to absorb Him, to gain the supply, / That we may be watered and nourished thereby; / The deeper the roots spread, the deeper the flow, / And richer and higher within us He’ll grow. (Song on, Take time to absorb Him)
– The universal Fullness / So pleased resides in Thee. / Within Thee dwells the Godhead, / And Thou, Lord, dwell in me! / Preeminent, transcendent, / Unique in all Thou art, / O’erflowing all the heavens, / Thou now dost fill my heart! (Song on, Christ in Colossians)
– 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)
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