We have seen clearly that the riches of the land are firstly in waters, secondly in all kinds of vegetables and plants, thirdly in cattle and flocks, and fourthly in mines or minerals. Let us name them in their various categories:
1. Waters: springs, fountains, and streams.
2. Plants and vegetables: wheat, barley, vines, fig trees, pomegranates, olive trees.
3. Animals: cattle, flocks.
(The mingling together of the above two lives, the plant and the animal, produces the milk and the honey.)
4. Minerals or mines: stones, mountains, iron, copper.
We have seen how all these riches correspond with the various stages of the spiritual life. The living waters belong to the first stage of our spiritual experience. Experiencing Christ in the first stage, we feel He is just as living water to us. Then, in the second stage, we have a further experience of Christ; we enjoy Christ more solidly. Christ is just as the solid food to us; He is something more than water. Water is certainly good and most necessary, but water is not so substantial. I cannot live and grow only with water. If you invite me to dinner, you must give me some solid food, some wheat or some barley, etc. It is indeed wonderful, then, that at the end of the plants and vegetables is the olive tree, representing Christ as the Son of oil, the One who is full of the Holy Spirit. Within and without He was saturated with the Holy Spirit, and we can enjoy Him as such. We can be filled with the Holy Spirit and saturated with the Holy Spirit. When we are so full of the Spirit, we are mature in the life of Christ. Christ is so dear, so sweet, so rich to us, just as milk and honey.
Immediately following such a rich experience of Christ, we come to the mines and the minerals—the stones, the mountains, the iron, and the copper. This is the order of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit put all these items in such an order to correspond with the stages of the spiritual life. When we are mature in the life of Christ, we realize something in our experience of the stone, the mountain, the iron, and the copper.
In the previous chapter we have seen much concerning the stones and the hills. We have seen that the stones represent the saved and transformed saints as the material for God’s building. We must not only be saved but also transformed into the living stones for the building of God. Originally we are not stones; we are pieces of clay. But when we accepted Christ, He came into our spirit and has been continually working to transform us. By the renewing of the Holy Spirit, we are transformed from a piece of clay to a stone that we may be material for the building of God.
We have also seen that the hills and the mountains represent resurrection and ascension. With resurrection and ascension is always the authority, the kingdom and the King. Resurrection is something raised up, and ascension is something exalted, and with this exaltation is the divine authority, the divine government, the kingdom of God with the King. This is the meaning of the mountains and the hills. We have seen that the only way for the clay to be transformed to the stone is in resurrection. Only in the resurrection life is Christ able to transform us. In the natural life we are a piece of clay, but in the resurrection life we are a stone. The stones produced for the building of God with the divine authority and government are all the issue of Christ’s resurrection. The more we enjoy Christ and experience Christ, the more we will be transformed by the Holy Spirit with the elements of His life. Then the building of God and the kingdom of God will come into view.
Now we come to the last items, the iron and the copper. I believe you are familiar with the sequence in the Epistle to the Ephesians. The first chapter tells of all the blessings we have received in Christ. Then the second, the third, the fourth, and the fifth chapters are all related to the riches of Christ. This is the only book in which the term the unsearchable riches of Christ is mentioned (3:8). After the account of these riches, we come to chapter 6, the end of the book. There we see the battle, the warfare. The last item in the book of Ephesians is the spiritual warfare. By the time you reach chapter 6 of Ephesians in spiritual experience, you have had an abundant enjoyment of the riches of Christ; you have experienced the Christ of chapters 1 through 5. Because you have enjoyed Him to such an extent, and because of the need for the building of God and the divine government, you must fight the spiritual warfare. When you arrive at this point, you will be enabled to fight, you will be qualified to fight, you will be matured in the life of Christ. In the experience of the riches of Christ, you must fight and you can fight.
Immediately upon being brought to the battlefield in this chapter, we read these terms: helmet, breastplate, shield, sword, etc. Figuratively speaking, what is the helmet made of? And of what is the breastplate composed? They are certainly not constituted of any soft or fragile material. In the record of 1 Samuel 17 there is a giant warrior covered with bronze. His head, his breast, his knees, and his legs were all sheathed with bronze. And the sword with which he fought was made of iron. The last items of the riches of Christ are iron and copper or bronze, because the last stage of Christian experience is the spiritual warfare. In the battle we need both copper and iron.
What elements of Christ do iron and copper represent? We are told that Christ will rule the nations with a rod of iron. Iron, therefore, stands for the authority of Christ. Christ is the One with full authority over the entire universe. All authority in both heaven and earth has been given to Him. He has been exalted to the heavens, to the right hand of God, and has been made Head over all things. He has the iron. The rod of iron is in His hand. This is quite clear.
Then what aspect of Christ does copper or bronze typify? Bronze stands for the judgment of Christ. But we must realize that all His judging power and judging authority issue from the trials He suffered. When He was here on earth, He passed through all kinds of tests and suffered every kind of trial. His feet are like burnished bronze, refined in the furnace. What do the feet represent? The feet represent the walk, the life on earth. The walk and life of the Lord on earth have been refined, burnished, tested, and tried by God. They have even been tested by the enemy and by humanity. By all these tests, the Lord’s life and walk have been proved and come forth perfect, bright, and shining. He has been qualified by this. He has been qualified to judge others, because He has first been tested, judged, and refined. He is equipped not only with bronze but with refined and shining bronze. He has the ground, He has the right, to judge.