However, we still need to have the heavenly element added to us. Although we have been redeemed, delivered, cleansed, and purified, all this is negative; we do not yet have anything positive. Hence, we are not yet qualified to be God’s dwelling place. In order to be God’s habitation, something heavenly must be wrought into our being. Therefore, we need to eat the heavenly manna and drink the living water so that something heavenly and living might be constituted into us. Now we are daily and even hourly eating of the manna and drinking of the water. The more we eat and drink in this way, the less we smell like garlic and the more we smell like manna. Exodus 16:31 says that the taste of manna was “like wafers made with honey.” The taste of manna is sweet; it is heavenly, not worldly. When the heavenly element of manna is constituted into our being, we become qualified to be God’s dwelling place on earth. In this way the tabernacle was erected in the wilderness, and it was filled with the glory of God (Exo. 40:34-35).
As we pointed out in the last message, the tabernacle was good, but it was neither solid nor established. By eating manna, we become wafers with the taste of honey. Certain brothers are like sweet wafers: they break when you touch them. When the saints from Germany came to Los Angeles several years ago, they were not the temple; rather, they were the tabernacle. They were all wafers. However, since then many of them have become stones. If I pour water upon a wafer, the wafer will be ruined. But if I pour water on a stone, the stone will remain the same. I praise the Lord that there are many stones in Stuttgart. This indicates that the church in Stuttgart is no longer the tabernacle in the wilderness, but the temple in the good land.
Some saints in the churches are still eating the Lamb. A number of new ones are eating the Lamb. They are still in the world, not yet in the wilderness. There are some others who are eating manna. Because those who eat manna are wafers, I am very easy on them, and I dare not touch them. But some of the elders can testify that I am not easy on them because they are stones. When I pour water upon them, it proves that they are stones. Some in the church are eating the Lamb, others are eating the manna, and still others are eating the rich produce of the good land.
Christ is not only the redeeming and nourishing Lamb; He is also the all-inclusive land. Colossians 2:6 says, “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him.” Christ is the good land in which we may live, walk, and have our being. Christ is a sphere, a realm, in which we may dwell. Colossians 2:7 says that we have been rooted and that we are being built up in Christ. Being rooted in Christ is for growth, and being built up in Christ is for building. We have been put into the good land of Christ, and now we are the plants growing in this land which is everything to us. Christ is the Lamb, the manna, and the spacious land with all kinds of produce.
In Christ as our land we have different kinds of water. Deuteronomy 8:7 speaks of three kinds of water: brooks, fountains, and depths, that is, deep waters. Moreover, Deuteronomy 8:8 lists seven types of food: wheat, barley, vines, figs, pomegranates, olive oil, and honey. In the New Testament wheat signifies the incarnated and crucified Christ. The Lord Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12:24). In this verse Christ indicated that He was a grain of wheat falling into the earth to die. This means that He was the incarnated and crucified Christ.
The first grain to ripen in the holy land is barley. Thus, barley signifies the resurrected Christ. We must experience Christ both as the incarnated and crucified One and also as the resurrected One. Day by day we may enjoy Christ as two basic items, as wheat and as barley.
Christ is also the wine that makes us happy and stirs us up. He is also the fig to satisfy us and to nourish us. Pomegranates signify the expression of the riches of the life of Christ, and the olive oil, the fullness of the Holy Spirit. All these points are covered in detail in the book The All-inclusive Christ.
Deuteronomy 8:8 also lists honey along with the plant life. For the most part, honey has to do with the plant life. It is derived mainly from flowers and trees. Of course, a part of the animal life is involved—that little animal, the bee. Without the flowers we cannot have honey, and without the bees we cannot have honey either. The flowers and the bees cooperate to make honey. These two lives are mingled together, and honey is produced. Christ is both the plant life and the animal life. The plant life is the generating life, and the animal life is the redeeming life. The plant life has no blood, but it generates and multiplies. Only the animal life has the blood for redemption. Hence, Christ is not only the generating life, but also the redeeming life. Daily we need to enjoy Christ as the incarnated One, the crucified One, and the resurrected One. Then we shall have the wine to make us happy and to cheer us up. This will bring the satisfaction of the fig tree, the expression of the riches of life, and the fullness of the Holy Spirit. When all these are combined with Christ’s redeeming life, we have the sweet honey.