The Good Land as a Type of the All-Inclusive Christ

Genesis 12:1 and 7 say, “Now Jehovah said to Abram, Go from your land and from your relatives and from your father’s house to the land that I will show you…And Jehovah appeared to Abram and said, To your seed I will give this land.” The land that God promised to Abraham and his seed was a place: 1) for God’s people to live in and to live on; 2) where God’s enemies were defeated so that He could have His kingdom on earth; and 3) where God could have a habitation for His expression since it was on this land that the holy city with the holy temple were built. In fact, everything in the Old Testament record of God’s people was related to the good land, the land that God promised to Abraham. From Genesis 12 through the end of the Old Testament, the land is the center. In short, the land that God promised to Abraham and his seed was for the fulfillment of God’s purpose. Since this land bore such importance in the Old Testament, we should consider how it is related to us New Testament believers. The following four points show from the Word that this good land is actually a type of the all-inclusive Christ for us to possess and enjoy today.

First, Colossians 1:12 says that the Father has qualified us, the believers in Christ Jesus, for a share of the allotted portion of the saints in the light. Here, the apostle Paul made a reference to the allotment of the good land to the children of Israel in order to show that Christ, the reality of the good land, is our portion today. Moreover, in Colossians 2:6 and 7 Paul charged us who have been rooted and are being built up in Christ to walk in Him. The facts that we have been rooted in Christ and that we are to walk in Him indicate that Christ is not only our soil, the land in whom we are rooted, but also our realm, the land in whom we move.

Second, Isaiah 8:8, which says, “It will sweep through Judah; it will overflow and rise / Until it reaches the neck; / And the spreading out of its wings / Will fill the breadth of Your land, O Immanuel” refers to  the good land as belonging to Immanuel. Thus, the good land is the land of Immanuel, a land that belongs to Christ and even is Christ as Immanuel, God with us (Isa. 7:14; Matt. 1:23, 28:20).

Third, Joshua 5:11-12 records that the manna, which God’s people ate in the wilderness, ceased when they entered into the promised land and ate of the produce of the land. Just as the lamb and the manna are types of Christ as our food supply, so the produce of the land is also a type of Christ. In order to enjoy Christ as the produce, we need to labor on Him as the land.

Fourth, in Colossians 2:4, 8, and 18 Paul warns us, as believers, that just as the children of Israel were carried away from the good land into captivity, we also may be deluded, carried off as spoil, or defrauded from the enjoyment of Christ. This indicates Christ is our good land.

The above four points provide the scriptural basis for supporting that the all-inclusive Christ is the reality of the good land for the fulfillment of God’s purpose.

Further Reading:

Witness Lee, Life-study of Genesis, Messages 44 and 45 (Nook, Kindle, iBooks, Print).

Witness Lee, The All-Inclusive Christ, Chapter 1 (Nook, Print).

Witness Lee, Life-study of Colossians, Messages 34 and 35 (Nook, Kindle, iBooks, Print).

Witness Lee, The Conclusion of the New Testament, Messages 352 and 354 (Print).

Holy Bible Recovery Version, all verses mentioned in this post and their corresponding footnotes (Nook, Kindle, iBooks, Print).

(Most references in the Further Reading can also be viewed on www.ministrybooks.org.)