In Genesis we see that God promised Abraham a seed and a land, and Abraham and his seed would inherit the land of Canaan.
If you read the Bible you will see that the entire Bible, especially the Old Testament, speaks a lot about the land which God chose for His people to live in. If you read the news today you will also realize that there’s much talk concerning this small piece of land in the Middle East, the land of Israel.
There are many ways to look at the spiritual significance of the good land in the life and experience of a Christian, but we need to see it in a biblical and spiritual way. We can look at the land historically, politically, geographically, religiously (which often is superstitious), archaeologically, etc.
Apart from the first 11 chapters of Genesis, the entire book is a story about the land, and you could say that the subject of the entire Old Testament is the good land, a land flowing with milk and honey.
Abraham was given the promise of the good land. The law was given to prescribe how the people of God should live on the land. How the people of Israel behave and live din the land determined whether they can continue to remain in the land. The failure of the kings caused them to lose the land. The recovery of God’s people is to be recovered back to the land.
For the fulfillment of God’s purpose two things are vitally necessary: the seed and the land. Both the seed and the land typify Christ: the seed is Christ being wrought into us to be lived out of us and be brought forth for God’s expression and representation. The land is a type of the all-inclusive Christ as the good land into which we can walk, move, labor, live on, defeat the enemy, build up God’s house, become God’s kingdom, and accomplish God’s purpose.
May the Lord open our eyes to see that Christ lives in us as the seed and we live in Christ as the good land. May we let Christ work Himself into us to produce the seed, and may we live and walk in Christ as the good land in all our daily living.
The Good Land is a Type of the All-Inclusive Christ
There are two main things that are important in God’s promise to Abraham: the seed and the land. In order for God to fulfill His purpose, He needs the seed and He needs the land – both signifying Christ Himself, who is the centrality and universality of God’s economy (see Gen. 12:7; Col. 1:18; 3:10-11).
The seed is Christ in us, and the land signifies the Christ in whom we are and live. Christ in us is important, but in a sense, it is not as important as we being in Christ. We need to not only have Christ in us but also live in Christ, walk in Christ, and let Christ become our living, our realm, and our daily life, so that we would have a rich church life.
As believers in Christ, we have not only received Christ but we are also called to walk in Him! In God’s speaking to Abraham, time and time again, we see that He promises the good land to him. The main promise to Abraham was not the seed but the good land, and the seed was to inherit the land.
This good land has nothing to do with history, archaeology, geography, or religion; the good land is an all-inclusive type of Christ. We need to see the spiritual application of the good land, which is Christ as the all-inclusive good land.
In Col. 1:12 we are told that God has qualified us for a share of the allotted portion of the saints in the light – Christ is the good land in which we as believers should walk in. He’s not only the seed as life to us but the very realm and land in which we need to live in and live on.
In Isa. 8:8 we se that this good land is called, The Land of Immanuel. Who is Immanuel? It is the Lord Jesus, God with us. This good land is Christ Himself.
May no one carry us away from living in Christ as our good land with persuasive speech as spoil or defraud us by the self-chosen lowliness and worship of angels (see Col. 2). Rather, may we see that, in our experience and in the spiritual reality, the good land in the Old Testament is an all-inclusive type of the Christ in the New Testament, and may we live in Christ, walk in Christ, labor in Christ, and do everything in Christ!
For Us Today the Land is Christ who is Living in us and In Whom we are Living
Many Christians today consider the good land as being “heaven”, where they will go after they die (after they cross the river Jordan) and just enjoy it for eternity….but according to what the Bible says this is not really accurate.
When God called Abraham to go into the land, he went about and walked in the land to live in it and on it. He needed a place to live in and he needed some produce of the land to live on. In our spiritual experience, the land is the Christ who lives in us and in whom we live.
Later we see that Abraham defeated his enemies in this land, and Joshua led many battles in which the people of Israel had to defeat and cast out many evil people from the land (see Gen. 14:13-20). In Christ as the land we defeat the enemy and stand in Christ’s victory, enjoying His presence being with us and leading us all the time.
The people of Israel later built the temple in the good land, and they became the kingdom of God on earth. In Christ as the good land we build up the habitation of God, the church, so that God may have a place where He can express Himself (see Deut. 12:5, 11; 16:2).
Also, through our living and walking in Christ as the good land, we become the kingdom of God on the earth, the realm where God can rule and reign. Many Christians care more for the physical land of Israel than for the spiritual application of the good land in their experience. In his life-study of Genesis, Witness Lee helps us understand how the good land applies to our experience,
The land actually symbolizes Christ. In type, the land is the place where God’s people have rest and where God can defeat all of His enemies and establish His kingdom with His habitation for His expression and representation. Please remember the following points regarding the land: that it is the place where God’s people may have rest; that it is the place where all of God’s enemies can be slaughtered; and that it is the place where God establishes His kingdom and builds up His habitation that He may be expressed and represented on this rebellious earth. What is qualified to be such a land? Nothing other than Christ. In Christ, we have rest and we slaughter the enemies. In Christ, God establishes His kingdom and builds His habitation, the church, for His expression and representation. Have you seen that both the seed and the land are Christ? The seed that God promised Abraham is today the corporate Christ, and the land that God promised him is the wonderful resurrected and elevated Christ in whom we rest and slaughter our enemies and in whom God establishes His kingdom and builds up His habitation that He might be expressed and represented. (Life-study of Genesis, p. 604)
We need to live a life of walking in Christ, laboring on Christ, living in Christ, and doing everything in Christ, and as a result, we will live a church life that is rich, we will become a temple for the worship of God and a kingdom for the defeat of God’s enemy. May nothing distract us or take us away from Christ as the good land!
Lord Jesus, You are the seed of life in us and the good land in which we can walk. We want to walk in You, live in You, and live because of You. Lord, You are the land in which we live, and we want to live in Christ and on Christ. Save us from being defrauded by anyone who tries to take us away from Christ. May nothing distract us or carry us as spoil from living in Christ as the good land. Lord Jesus, in You we live, in You we fight, and in You we walk so that the church may be built up as Your habitation and Your kingdom on earth today!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Andrew Yu’s sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Genesis (msgs. 44-45), as quoted in, the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Genesis (2), week 4 / msg 4, The Land for the Fulfillment of God’s Purpose.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Lord, how we bless Thee for this land, / The all-inclusive Christ! / We’ve eaten Him, we’re filled with Him, / O how He has sufficed! / Teach us to labor constantly / Upon this vast reality; / This is our joy, this our employ— / Christ our land! (Hymns #1164)
# Lift your eyes up and look from where you are. / When you see the Christ, our all-inclusive land, / Then we walk in this blessed land, enjoying all we see, / Getting saved eating milk and honey. (New song on Christ as the good land)
# In Christ we live, by Christ we fight, / On Christ we labor day and night, / And with His surplus we unite / To thus exhibit Christ. (Hymns #864 by W. Lee)
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