In this message, we shall begin to consider Christ’s person in what He is to the believers.
In Colossians 1:12, Paul speaks of Christ as the portion of the saints. 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 Colossians 1:12 may also be translated “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. Each of the twelve tribes received an allotment of the good land, which is an all-inclusive type of Christ. Today, as God’s chosen people, the saints, we have Christ as our portion. Just as the good land was all things to the children of Israel, so Christ is our portion, our lot, our everything.
If we would understand the matter of Christ as the believers’ portion, we need to read Colossians 1:12-29, verses that describe different aspects of this portion, or lot. This portion is the image of God and also the Firstborn of all creation (v. 15). As to His divinity He is the image of the invisible God. In His humanity He is the first item of God’s creation. He is also the Firstborn in resurrection (v. 18), the Firstborn of the new creation. He is the One in whom all the fullness of the divine Trinity dwells (v. 19). This One must have the preeminence, the first place, in everything. Because He is the One who has the preeminence in all things, He redeemed and reconciled all things to God. This wonderful, all-inclusive Christ is our portion for our enjoyment in the divine dispensing.
In 1 Corinthians 1:2 is the expression, “our Lord Jesus Christ...theirs and ours.” Christ as the all-inclusive One belongs to all believers. He is the portion given to us by God. We have been called by the faithful God into the fellowship of this Christ who is ours (1 Cor. 1:9). That Christ is ours means that He is our portion. All the believers have Christ as their unique portion. We have been called into the fellowship, that is, into the participation and enjoyment, of this portion, and this portion is God’s power and wisdom to us (1 Cor. 1:24). In God’s economy we have been put into this portion, and God has made this portion our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption (1 Cor. 1:30).
As the believers’ portion, Christ who is our Savior is God (Titus 1:3; 3:4), the Triune God, to us. We may not realize that the Triune God is our portion for our enjoyment. Instead, we may regard God merely as an object of our worship. When worldly people talk about God, they usually think of Him as an object of worship. But for us, believers in Christ, God is not only an object of worship; He is a portion for us to enjoy.
Chapter four of the Gospel of John reveals that God is for our enjoyment. In His conversation with the Samaritan woman the Lord Jesus indicated that the real worship of God is to drink of God, to drink of the living water in our spirit. In verse 14 the Lord says, “Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall by no means thirst forever; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a spring of water welling up into eternal life.” In verse 24 the Lord goes on to say, “God is Spirit; and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and reality.” When we put these verses together, we see that the real worship of God is enjoying Him as our drink in our spirit. This surely indicates that, as God, Christ is for our enjoyment.
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