Ephesians 3:17-18: That Christ may make His home in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be full of strength to apprehend with all the saints what the breadth and length and height and depth are.
In these two verses several things must be noticed and remembered well. Note the phrase make His home in verse 17. It is a big word, a weighty word. In the original tongue, the word for make His home, or dwell, has the same root as the word for house and home. We wish to translate that original word in the Greek into “make His home.” This conveys a deeper and fuller meaning than “dwell.” Christ wants to make His home in our hearts, that we may be strong to apprehend. Now notice that it is not just that we may be able to apprehend but that we may “be full of strength” to apprehend. This also is a strong and weighty word. In the Greek it means “to have full power.” We could translate the verse in this way: “That you may have full power to apprehend.” Now I would call your attention to the word apprehend. We are not just to know or understand but to possess something by knowing, to obtain something by understanding—to apprehend. What are we to apprehend? The breadth, the length, the height, and the depth—the spaciousness of Christ, the unlimited dimensions of Christ. Next, we are to apprehend such a Christ with all the saints. It is impossible for a single person to apprehend such an unlimited One; it must be with all the saints.
In summary, Christ wants to make His home in our hearts. Then we will have full power to apprehend, to obtain by understanding, the unlimited spaciousness of Christ with all the saints.
Exodus 33:14-15: He said, My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest. And he said to Him, If Your presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here.
The first point here is that the Lord promised Moses that His presence would go with him and the people of Israel. The second point is that the Lord promised Moses to give him rest. The rest which the Lord referred to here is the rest in the good land.
Deuteronomy 12:10: When you cross over the Jordan and dwell in the land which Jehovah your God is giving you as an inheritance, and when He gives you rest from all your enemies surrounding you so that you dwell securely.
Deuteronomy 25:19: Therefore when Jehovah your God gives you rest from all your enemies surrounding you, in the land which Jehovah your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess.
By these two verses we see that when the Lord refers to the rest, He is referring to the land. The land is the rest. To possess the land and to dwell there is to be in rest.
Exodus 40:1-2: Then Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, On the first day of the first month you shall raise up the tabernacle of the Tent of Meeting.
The Lord commanded Moses to raise up the tabernacle on the first day of the first month. This means an absolutely new beginning.
Exodus 40:17, 21, 34-35: In the first month in the second year, on the first day of the month, the tabernacle was raised up...And he brought the Ark into the tabernacle and set up the veil for the screen and screened the Ark of the Testimony, as Jehovah had commanded Moses...Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of Jehovah filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the Tent of Meeting, because the cloud settled on it and the glory of Jehovah filled the tabernacle.
Once the tabernacle was raised up, the glory of the Lord immediately filled it. What is the glory of the Lord? It is the presence of the Lord manifested before the eyes of humanity. Human eyes, the eyes of the children of Israel, beheld the presence of God in His glory at that time.
We have seen something of the goodness, the exceeding goodness, of the land of Canaan, and we have seen how it is the type of the all-inclusive Christ. We have not by any means exhausted all its riches, but I believe we have seen enough to give us a sense of appreciation. Now we must see the way to possess that piece of land. We must see how to enter and enjoy it.
First, to possess this land is not the business of a single person. It is absolutely impossible for anyone as a single individual to do it. We must remember this well. We can never possess the all-inclusive Christ by ourselves as individuals. Absolutely not! Brothers and sisters, let us not dream. Such dreams can never be realized. This is the business of the Body; it is to be apprehended with all saints. Christ is too great; His spaciousness is unlimited and His riches are unsearchable. This principle is firmly established by the Lord: to enter in and take possession of the good land is not for individuals but for a corporate body. The Lord never asked the children of Israel one by one to gradually, singly, and individually cross the Jordan and enter the land. It was never God’s mind that one should enter this month, another next month, and still another the following month. This is impossible and contrary to the divine principle. It must be possessed by a corporate body; it must be entered corporately, not individually.
I fear that even while you have been reading these pages, you have been asking, “How can I get into this land?” You, as an individual, can never get in. You must be deeply impressed. This is not the way. If you would enter this land, you must enter as a part of a corporate body.