In this series of messages, we want to cover the enjoyment of the Lord. Among today’s Christians there is a real shortage of the adequate knowledge of God as our enjoyment. We may have heard many things about God, but we have to see that the entire Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, shows us that God is our enjoyment. God also has His fullness (Eph. 3:19b). He is full for us to enjoy. His fullness is the expression of the riches of Christ, and the reality of Christ is in the Spirit. We know this by the revelation of the Word. The riches of Christ are revealed in the Word. Furthermore, we can realize God as our enjoyment in our spirit (John 4:24).
The first major thing revealed to us about God in the Scriptures is that He is our enjoyment. Right after God created man, He presented Himself as the tree of life to be eaten by man (Gen. 2:7-9). Thus, God is the tree of life to be enjoyed by us. He presented Himself to man as life in the form of food for man to enjoy.
After the fall of man, God presented Himself to man in the form of a lamb (Exo. 12:4). Through this Passover lamb, fallen man could be redeemed back to God. The redeemed people of God ate the meat of the lamb for their enjoyment.
Following the eating of the meat of the Passover lamb, the children of Israel were also to eat the unleavened bread and the bitter herbs (v. 8). This is the enjoyment of God by His redeemed people.
Then in the wilderness the children of Israel enjoyed the manna (16:14-15) and the living water (17:6). These are two other aspects of Christ as our enjoyment.
When the people entered into the good land, they enjoyed the riches of the produce of this land (Deut. 8:8-9). The produce of the good land is the different aspects of the riches of Christ for the redeemed ones to enjoy.
Also, with the tabernacle there were all the offerings for the priests to offer and enjoy by feasting (Lev. 6:8-7:34). All of the different items of the offerings typify different aspects of Christ for our enjoyment.
Psalm 23 says that the Lord is our Shepherd (v. 1). He is also the green pastures and still waters (v. 2). He is the table before us in the presence of our enemies (v. 5). This means we enjoy Him as our feast on the battlefield. This psalm also speaks of the dwelling place of God (v. 6). God Himself is our dwelling place for us to enjoy Him. Psalm 90:1 says that the Lord is our habitation, our dwelling place, in all generations.
Psalm 34 says that we can taste the Lord (v. 8). To taste the Lord is to enjoy Him. Psalm 36 says that we can enjoy the fatness of the Lord’s house and drink of the river of God’s pleasures (v. 8). We can drink of the river of the joy of God (46:4).
Jeremiah 17 says that we can be like a tree planted by the waters. We are the tree and God is the living water to us (vv. 7-8). We can enjoy God just as the tree enjoys the water of the river. All these passages from the Old Testament show us how God is our enjoyment in many aspects.
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