THE SECOND PART: A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
The Epistle of Paul to the Colossians
Message One—Enjoying Christ as the Good Land
Scripture Reading: Col. 1:12; 2:6-15, 19; Exo. 3:8; Deut. 8:8-9; 26:9
I. Christ as the preeminent and all-inclusive One is the allotted portion of the saints—Col. 1:12:
A. The allotted portion refers to the lot of the inheritance, as illustrated by the allotment of the good land of Canaan given to the children of Israel for their inheritance—Josh. 14:1.
B. The New Testament believers’ allotted portion is not a physical land; it is the all-inclusive Christ as the life-giving Spirit—Col. 2:6-7; Gal. 3:14:
1. The riches of the good land typify the unsearchable riches of Christ in different aspects as the bountiful supply to His believers in His Spirit—Deut. 8:7-10; Eph. 3:8; Phil. 1:19.
2. By enjoying the riches of the land, the believers in Christ are built up to Christ’s 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.
II. The purpose of God’s calling is to bring God’s chosen people into the enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ, typified by the good land flowing with milk and honey—Exo. 3:8; cf. 1 Cor. 1:9:
A. Milk and honey, which are the mingling of both the animal life and the vegetable life, are two aspects of the life of Christ—the redeeming aspect and the generating aspect—Deut. 8:8; 26:9; cf. John 1:29; 12:24:
1. The redeeming aspect of Christ’s life is for our judicial redemption, and the generating aspect of Christ’s life is for our organic salvation—John 1:29; 12:24; Rev. 2:7; Rom. 5:10.
2. The symbols of the Lord’s table signify the redeeming and generating aspects of Christ’s life for God’s complete salvation; thus, the good land has become a table, a feast for our enjoyment—Matt. 26:26-28; 1 Cor. 10:16-17.
B. We must be in the light in order to enjoy the all-inclusive Christ as the good land in His redeeming and generating aspects—Col. 1:12; 1 Pet. 2:9; Isa. 2:5:
1. God is light—1 John 1:5.
2. The word of God is light—Psa. 119:105, 130.
3. Christ is light—John 8:12; 9:5.
4. The life of Christ is light—1:4.
5. The believers are light—Matt. 5:14; Phil. 2:15.
6. The church is a lampstand shining with light—Rev. 1:20; Psa. 73:16-17.
C. We must eat God’s words to enjoy the all-inclusive Christ as the good land in His redeeming and generating aspects; God’s word is milk for us to drink and honey for us to eat—John 6:57, 63, 68; 1 Pet. 2:2; Psa. 119:103; Ezek. 3:3.
D. By enjoying Christ as the land of milk and honey, we will be constituted with Him as milk and honey—”Your lips drip fresh honey, my bride; / Honey and milk are under your tongue”—S. S. 4:11a:
1. Honey restores the stricken ones, whereas milk feeds the new ones.
2. The seeker has stored so many riches within her that food is under her tongue, and she can dispense the riches of Christ to the needy ones at any time—Isa. 50:4; Luke 4:22; Eph. 4:29-30; cf. Matt. 12:35-36.
3. This sweetness is not produced overnight, but comes from a long period of gathering, inward activity, and careful storage—S. S. 4:16; 2 Cor. 12:7-9.
III. We can walk in Christ as our living land and absorb Christ as our rich soil, in which we have been rooted, so that we may grow with the elements that we absorb from the soil—Col. 2:6-7; cf. 1 Cor. 3:6, 9; Col. 2:19:
A. Colossians 2:8-15 presents a full description and definition of Christ as the soil, in which we do not lack anything; as we take time to absorb Him as the all-inclusive land, the facts in these verses become our experience:
1. Christ as the soil is the One in whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily—v. 9:
a. Fullness refers not to the riches of God but to the expression of the riches of God; what dwells in Christ is not only the riches of the Godhead but the expression of the riches of what God is—v. 9; 1:15, 19; 3:10-11.
b. When we are rooted in Christ as the soil, we are made full in Him; we are filled up with all the divine riches to become His expression—Eph. 3:8, 17, 19.
c. In Christ as the soil we are filled, completed, perfected, satisfied, and thoroughly supplied; we do not lack anything—cf. Phil. 1:19.
d. Christ as the soil is the history and mystery of God with all the riches of His person and processes—Col. 2:2.
2. Christ as the soil is the Head of all rule and authority—2:10.
3. In Christ as the soil there is the killing power, which puts the flesh to death—v. 11.
4. In Christ as the soil there is an element which causes us to be buried—v. 12a.
5. In Christ as the soil there is an element which causes us to be raised up—v. 12b.
6. In Christ as the soil there is an element which vivifies us—v. 13.
7. In Christ as the soil there is the wiping out of the handwriting in ordinances—v. 14.
8. In Christ as the soil there is the victory over the evil spirits in the atmosphere—v. 15.
B. We must take time to enjoy the Lord as the all-inclusive land so that all the elements of Christ as the rich soil may be absorbed into us for us to be made full in Him in our experience—Col. 2:10a; 4:2:
1. If we would absorb the riches of Christ as the soil, we need to have tender, new roots—cf. 2 Cor. 4:16.
2. We need to forget our situation, our condition, our failures, and our weaknesses and simply take time to absorb the Lord; as we take time to absorb Him, we grow with the growth of God in us for the building up of the Body of Christ—Matt. 14:22-23; 6:6; Col. 2:7a, 19b; cf. Luke 8:13.
Ministry Excerpts:
In this message we shall consider Christ as the portion of the saints. In 1:12 Paul says, “Giving thanks to the Father, Who qualified you for a share of the portion of the saints in the light.” As we shall see, the portion of the saints is the all-inclusive Christ for our enjoyment.
THE PROMISED LAND
According to the book of Genesis, no promises were given that involved blessing or enjoyment before the call of Abraham. Of course, in Genesis 3:15 there is the promise that the seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent. This promise, however, does not involve a promise of blessing or enjoyment. In chapters four through eleven of Genesis there is no record of such a promise. A promise of blessing is first mentioned in Genesis 12, at the time God called Abraham out of his country and his father’s house. Here the Lord specifically mentions the land (Gen. 12:1).
God’s promise to Abraham with respect to the good land is of great significance. When Paul was writing the Epistle to the Colossians and was speaking of the portion of the saints, he no doubt had in mind the picture of the allotting of the good land to the children of Israel in the Old Testament. The Greek word rendered portion in 1:12 can be also rendered lot. Paul used this term with the Old Testament record of the land as the background. God gave His chosen people, the children of Israel, the good land for their inheritance and enjoyment. The land meant everything to them. In fact, the question of the land is a serious issue in the Middle East even today. The problem in the Middle East regarding Israel and the surrounding nations is a problem of the land.
THE SEED AND THE LAND
The promise to Adam and Eve in Genesis 3 was the promise of the seed of the woman. But the promise God made to Abraham was not only that of the seed, but also that of the land. The seed promised in Genesis 3:15 becomes the land in Genesis 12. When the children of Israel entered into the land of Canaan, they inherited not only the seed, but also the land. We may interpret the seed both as a person and also as a seed sown into soil. This means that Christ is not only a descendant, but a seed sown into the land. Christ is both the seed and the land.
In Colossians do we have Christ as the seed or the land? In this book Christ is both the seed and the land. Colossians 2:7 says that we have been rooted in Christ. This indicates that He is the land. But in 3:4 we are told that Christ is our life. This indicates that He is also the seed. However, in Colossians Christ is revealed more as the land than as the seed. Christ is our portion, our lot, our everything, just as the land was all things to the children of Israel. The land provided whatever the children of Israel needed: milk, honey, water, cattle, grain, minerals. In writing this Epistle, Paul employed the concept of the all-inclusive land in order to charge the misled Colossians not to take anything other than Christ Himself. Anything that is not Christ is related to the authority of darkness, and we should not accept it. Rather, we should simply remain in the good land and not allow any foreign element to come in. Christ alone is our portion, and we should accept only what is of Him.
THE SPIRIT BEING THE GOOD LAND
Before Paul wrote Colossians, he wrote the Epistle to the Galatians. In Galatians 3:14 he says, “That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” Some Christian teachers believe that the blessing of Abraham refers to justification by faith. According to the context, however, this blessing must refer to the good land. In Genesis 12 the blessing God promised to give Abraham was the land. In Galatians 3:14 Paul links the blessing of Abraham to the promise of the Spirit. This indicates that the promise of Abraham, the promise of the good land, is the Spirit. Hence, the Spirit is the good land.
In Galatians 3:14 Paul speaks of the Spirit. This should remind us of John 7:39. This verse says, “The Spirit was not yet, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” The Spirit in Galatians 3:14 and John 7:39 is the ultimate expression of the Triune God. The Spirit is a unique term which denotes the processed God. The Father is the source. The Son of God as the course was incarnated, lived on earth, was crucified, and on the third day was resurrected. Incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection are all aspects of a process. In resurrection, Christ, the last Adam, became the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45). According to John 1:14, the Word, who was God, became flesh. According to 1 Corinthians 15:45, the last Adam, who is Christ, became the life-giving Spirit. Many Christian teachers argue that the life-giving Spirit in this verse is not the Holy Spirit. To believe this is to believe that there are two Spirits who can give life, the Holy Spirit and the life-giving Spirit. The life-giving Spirit is no doubt the very Holy Spirit who gives life. This Spirit is the ultimate consummation of the processed God. This Spirit is nothing less than the all-inclusive Christ. As the good land is an all-inclusive type of Christ, and as Christ has become the Spirit, so the Spirit, the all-inclusive Spirit as the processed God, is eventually the good land to us, the New Testament believers, as a fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham that all the nations of the earth would be blessed in him (Gen. 12:3).
According to Galatians 3:14, the promise is the promise of the Spirit. But Galatians 3:16 says that the promises were made to Abraham’s seed, which is Christ. It is difficult to reconcile these verses. On the one hand, the Spirit is the all-inclusive Christ. On the other hand, this promise, this Spirit, was given to Christ as the seed. Although this is difficult to explain doctrinally, it is rather easy to understand according to experience. When we believed in the Lord Jesus, we received Him as the seed, as life. However, this seed is the all-inclusive, life-giving Spirit, the reality of the good land. This means that the very Christ whom we received as the seed is the Spirit typified by the good land. Christ came into us as the seed. But as we live by Him, He becomes the land which is our portion.
DELIVERED OUT OF THE AUTHORITY OF DARKNESS AND
TRANSFERRED INTO THE ALL-INCLUSIVE CHRIST
Just as the good land was the portion of the children of Israel, so Christ today is the portion of the saints. We have pointed out that as Paul was composing 1:12 he had in mind the type of the land of Canaan. In 1:13 he goes on to say, “Who delivered us out of the authority of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.” This verse reminds us of the way the children of Israel were delivered out of Egypt and transferred into the good land. Thus, Paul’s concept in 1:13 is the same as that revealed in the exodus from Egypt and in the entering into the good land. In ancient times, God delivered His people out of Egypt and brought them into the good land. God the Father has done the same thing with us. He has delivered us out of the authority of darkness, typified by Pharaoh and Egypt, and has transferred us into the all-inclusive Christ, typified by the good land. Just as the children of Israel were transferred out of Egypt into a land flowing with milk and honey, a land where there was no tyranny, so we have been transferred into a marvelous realm, called the kingdom of the Son of the Father’s love. Therefore, to be qualified for a share of the portion of the saints is actually to enter into the good land. Paul’s composition of 1:12 and 13 is thus according to the picture in the Old Testament.
THE PASSOVER, THE MANNA, AND THE LAND
In writing 1 Corinthians Paul also used pictures from the Old Testament. In 1 Corinthians 5:7 we see that Christ is the Passover, and in 10:3 and 4, that He is the manna. According to the pictures in the Old Testament, it was by the passover lamb that the children of Israel were delivered from Egypt, and it was by the manna that they were sustained in the wilderness. The tabernacle erected in the wilderness typifies the movable church life. This kind of church life is not solid or well established. After the children of Israel had entered into the good land and had enjoyed the blessing promised to Abraham, they built the temple with stone, by the unsearchably rich supply of the good land. The temple typifies the solid church life. In 1 Corinthians we have the church typified by the tabernacle, but in Colossians and Ephesians, the church typified by the temple. The Christ we enjoy in Colossians is not simply the lamb and the manna, but the good land, the lot, the portion of the saints.
Many Christian teachers speak about the passover, the manna, and the tabernacle. But I doubt that any have seen that the good land is a type of the all-inclusive Christ. This type of Christ can be fulfilled only by the Spirit. Christians may know the Spirit of God, but they may not know the Spirit, the all-inclusive, life-giving Spirit as the ultimate expression of the processed Triune God as the fulfillment of the promise of the good land. For us, the good land promised by God to Abraham is the Spirit. In other words, the Spirit is the blessing God promised to Abraham.
WALKING IN SPIRIT
In Galatians 5:16 Paul charges us to walk in spirit. The spirit should be our realm, the sphere, in which we walk. Furthermore, in Galatians 5:25 Paul says, “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in spirit” (Gk.). This indicates that the Spirit is our good land. The Christ revealed in the New Testament, especially in Colossians, is the all-inclusive land. This land is Christ as the all-inclusive Spirit. Hallelujah, we have received a share in such a portion!
THE NEED FOR AN EXODUS
If we see this, we shall not allow things other than Christ to invade the church. The Colossians were troubled by ordinances, practices, philosophy, and asceticism because they did not see that Christ as the all-inclusive Spirit was their portion, their good land. In place of this portion, they accepted observances, ordinances, and philosophy. In principle, the same is true of today’s Christianity. Christianity has been invaded by culture. Not one part of Christianity has been exempt from this. All of Christianity has been flooded by culture. The purpose of the Lord’s recovery is to bring us out of all this to Christ Himself. At first, the world was Egypt. Now the religion of Christianity has become an Egypt where God’s people are held in bondage. The Lord’s people today need an exodus. Many of us can testify that when we came into the church life, we made an exodus and were delivered out of the authority of darkness.
ONLY CHRIST
When the children of Israel were wandering in the wilderness, they remembered the flavor of the leeks, onions, and garlic they enjoyed in Egypt, and they still longed to eat that kind of food. But when the children of Israel entered into the good land, nothing with an Egyptian flavor was brought into Canaan. That would have been blasphemous to God. To bring into the church something other than Christ is also a blasphemy. In the good land there are no Egyptian leeks, onions, and garlic. In the good land we enjoy only the produce of the land. In the same principle, there is no worldly “garlic” in the church life, only Christ as the portion of the saints. If we see this, we shall be kept from bringing any foreign element into the Body of Christ.
We have seen that the portion of the saints is Christ as the good land, the all-inclusive Christ as the life-giving Spirit. Firstly, Christ is the seed that gives us life. Then He becomes the kingdom, the realm, the sphere, in which we live and walk. Therefore, Christ is our seed and our land, our life and our realm. This is Christ as the portion of the saints. (Life-Study of Colossians, msg. 6)