We all Experience the One Christ in Different Ways according to our Measure of Faith

We all were allotted the same Christ, the all-inclusive, extensive Christ as the reality of the good land, but we experience the one Christ in different ways, for each of us was allotted a portion of Christ according to our measure of faith.

God is pleased to give us Christ, the all-inclusive One, to be our everything. Actually, God created the universe and especially the earth with the good land for His eternal economy.

However, because of Satan’s rebellion, the earth was judged and completely buried under the water of God’s judgment; we see this in Gen. 1:1-2.

So the land was covered up; then, God came in to recover the land. This is the story we see in the Old Testament: it’s a back-and-forth battle between God and Satan.

When God came in to recover the land, out of that land came an abundance of life, life of every kind, for this land is full of life.

The land is life-giving and life-producing. But still, after God recovered the land, man fell and rebelled against God.

Again, at the time of Noah, God judged the earth with water, and the entire land was covered and buried in the water of God’s judgment.

But through the redemption of the ark, Noah’s descendants were able to repossess and replenish the land. If we look at this history, it explains a lot of our experience; it may seem that we take one step forward, and then we take two steps backwards.

As soon as we are enjoying Christ, something comes up to frustrate our enjoyment of Christ; this is not abnormal, for we are in a battle to experience, enjoy, and express Christ.

In Genesis 12 God came in, called Abraham, and promised him the land – to him and to his seed.

This is an important point to understand, for today people argue about the land of Israel, who does it belong to.

This land belongs to God, and it belongs to whomever God wants to give it.

It doesn’t belong to whoever claims to have settled there first; God gave the land to Abraham and to his seed, and these are the owners of that land.

In Deut. 11:24 and Joshua 1, we see that the boundaries of the land of Israel are quite vast, and Israel did not even today gain the whole land.

Actually, they won’t possess this land in this age – it is only in the restoration in the next age that they will recover it all.

Even after God promised Abraham the land, he went to Egypt; Egypt was not part of the land that God gave him, but he backslid, and later the people of Israel were enslaved in Egypt.

Again and again, the battle is for the land, to gain the land, to possess the land, and to inherit the land.

There are so many things that try to frustrate us from the enjoyment of Christ as the good land, from taking Him as our possession, and from experiencing the riches of Christ.

Even today in the church life, we realize that God has qualified us to enjoy Christ as our allotted portion with the saints in the light, but as we enter into the enjoyment and possession of Christ, many things rise up to frustrate us from enjoying Christ. So we must fight the battle to enjoy the land.

God has Allotted us the All-inclusive Christ, but we Experience the one Christ in Different Ways and Measures

There is a large portion of the book of Joshua that deals with one particular thing: the allotment of the good land.

A great part of this book – Josh. 13:1-22:34 – speaks of the allotting of the land; ten chapters are dedicated to this one thing.

Some of it may be a bit tedious to read because it is describing the physical boundaries of the different territories that the different tribes inhabited.

We need to see what is the intrinsic significance of the allotting of the good land; why would God devote so much attention to this matter, and why would Joshua devote so much to this?

The intrinsic significance is that we, the possessors of the land, experience the one Christ in different ways and measures.

We have been allotted the same Christ – the all-inclusive Christ – but the way we possess Him, enjoy Him, and experience Him is different, at different stages, in different measures, and in different ways.

If we consider our experience of regeneration, though we have received the same Christ, yet our experience of Him is different; we were all regenerated by the same Christ, but our experience was different.

An illustration of this can be seen in Gen. 49 where Jacob blessed his sons before he died, and he prophesied concerning them.

Though all of them were his sons, he prophesied concerning them in a different way and gave them different blessings.

Concerning Judah, he said that he is a lion in three ways – a whelp (the offspring of a lion), a mature lion, and a lioness.

Concerning Benjamin, he said that he is a ravenous wolf, and concerning Dan, that he was a serpent on the way which bit the horse’s heels.

Zebulun is called a haven of ships and Naphtali was called a hind let loose.

This illustrates that among us as God’s people, even though we are all the same family, we all are children of God, yet according to God’s ordination we are not the same way according to our human vessel, so we experience the one Christ in different ways.

We experience the same one Christ in different ways and even to different degrees, according to who and what we are; this is not a bad thing but rather, it is the way that God ordained it.

Because the tribes of Israel were not the same but rather, they were different, each having a different capacity and function, God could not give the same land in the same way to every tribe.

All the tribes possessed the land, but each one of them possessed particular portions of the land according to what they were.

The top portion of the land was allotted to Judah; Dan was also allotted a portion, but they did not dispossess the occupying Canaanites.

Among us today it is the same: we all have the same Christ, the all-inclusive Christ with vast riches and immense enjoyment, but we experience the one Christ in different ways according to what we are.

We enjoy Christ and experience Him in different ways and to different degrees, according to what we are. B

ut we all need to fight for our portion of Christ, dispossess and remove the enemy that hinders us from enjoying Christ, and enter into the enjoyment of the good land as God has allotted it to us!

Thank You, God, for allotting us a portion of the all-inclusive Christ for us to enjoy, experience, and partake of. Hallelujah, each and every believer in Christ has been given a portion of Christ for his experience and enjoyment for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ. Amen, Lord, we want to fight for our portion of Christ; we want to cooperate with You to defeat the enemy who hinders us from entering into our allotted portion. May we all enter into the experience of the one Christ in different ways according to what we are. Amen, Lord, may nothing distract us from enjoying Christ and experiencing the one Christ in many ways according to our capacity!

We all Experience the One Christ in Different Ways according to our Measure of Faith

In the book of Leviticus, we see in Lev. 1 five different kinds of burnt offerings; one is a bullock, another is a sheep, a goat, a turtledove, or a young pigeon.

This shows us that our experience of Christ is different according to our measure of faith.

The apostle Paul, for example, experienced Christ as a bullock – he had a greater measure of faith, and his experience of the one Christ was to a greater degree according to what he was.

Some experience the burnt offering as a sheep from the flock, some as a goat, some as a turtledove, and others, as a young pigeon.

For example, because Mary and Joseph offered one of the smaller offerings because they were poor outwardly. Some believers are quite poor in their enjoyment and experience of Christ.

They live in “spiritual poverty” and their measure of faith is not too big, so their experience of Christ is small in degree.

Our experience of the one Christ differs in size and in kind; this doesn’t mean that it is not a genuine experience of Christ but rather, it means that it is at a different level, at a different stage, to a different degree.

Likewise, there were three kinds of meal offerings – the fine flour, the wafer, and the grain which remained in the ears.

We all experience the one Christ in different ways according to our measure of faith.

In Rom. 12:3 we are told not to think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think but rather, to think so as to be sober-minded, as God has apportioned to each a measure of faith.

Then, Paul lists the gifts that are according to the measure of faith, such as prophecy, service, teaching, exhortation, giving, leading, and showing mercy.

Each of these gifts according to our measure are equal – we need each one of them.

We need those who prophesy and also those who show mercy; we need those who exhort others and those who give in simplicity.

Showing mercy is just as important as taking the lead; we need all the experiences of Christ from all the gifts, and not one should be exalted above the other.

On one hand, we need every gift; on the other hand, we all need to aspire to experience a larger Christ, that is, to have an increased measure of faith.

We even need to pray that the Lord would enlarge our experience of Christ and grant us a greater measure of faith.

The more of Christ that we see, the more we can enjoy and experience Him.

We need to pursue this, pursue having an increased measure of Christ, an increased and enlarged experience of Christ, while at the same time not neglecting our function or others’ portion.

The New Testament tells us that God the Father has qualified us for a share of the allotted portion of the saints in the light; this doesn’t mean, however, that we have all of Christ as our portion.

It means that each one of us has an allotted portion of Christ according to the measure of our faith.

Just like with Israel, where some tribes were larger and received bigger portions of the land, so in the church life there are saints with a larger measure of faith, so they enjoy Christ to a greater degree.

We all have the same Christ, but we experience the one Christ in different ways (1 Cor. 1:2), and the land we possess is according to what we are (Rom. 12:3; Eph. 4:7).

To each one of us, grace was given according to the measure of the gift of Christ.

For example, in our body, there’s a supply of blood that is being distributed to all the members, but the members that are larger in size receive a greater portion of blood than the smaller members.

In the Body of Christ, the supply is larger for some of the members due to their measure and function; however, no member should despise the measure and portion of other members.

We shouldn’t envy others’ portion of Christ, neither should we despise it, thinking we have such a great measure while others have such a small measure.

We all were given a gift according to our measure, and God intended us to have this particular gift exactly in this measure for the building up of the Body of Christ.

Thank You, Lord, for apportioning to each one of us a measure of faith for us to enjoy and experience our allotted portion of the all-inclusive Christ. Save us from thinking more highly of ourselves or envying others’ portion of Christ. Increase our measure of faith, Lord, and grant us to experience a larger portion of Christ for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ. Enlarge our enjoyment of Christ. We want to pursue Christ, gain Christ, and experience Christ to a greater degree so that we may function in our measure for the building up of the church. Thank You Lord for our portion and for the portion of all the saints; we treasure the saints and their portion, and we want to function in our measure in the Body!

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, Life-study of Joshua, msg. 11, 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…. See our portion so available to take, / To be walked in and experienced in full. / Apprehending the unsearchable extent of this good land, / When we corporately enjoy Him with the saints. (Song on, What a Christ We Have)
  – Every day the Lord Himself is near me, / With a special mercy for each hour; / All my cares He fain would bear and cheer me, / He whose name is Counsellor and Pow’r. / The protection of His child and treasure / Is a charge that on Himself He laid; / “As thy days, thy strength shall be in measure,” / This the pledge to me He made. (Hymns #713)
  – Each, the others needing, / Must impartial be; / Each his place possesses / And utility. / By our grace are measured / Gifts both large and small; / Each with sober judgment / Takes his place with all. (Hymns #854)