On the one hand, the good land is revealed in the Old Testament. On the other hand, it is concealed there. Although this statement appears contradictory, actually it is not. Because Deuteronomy describes the good land, we may say that the good land is revealed in the Old Testament. But because the meaning and significance of the good land are concealed, we may also say that the land is concealed in the Scriptures. As the Lord’s children, supplied by His mercy and grace, delved into the Word, they began to realize that the good land promised by God to His chosen people is a type of Christ. If the Passover enjoyed in Egypt and the manna experienced in the wilderness were types of Christ, then the good land must also be a type of Christ.
In Joshua 5:11 and 12 we see a hint that the good land typifies Christ as the continuation of the manna. Verse 11 says that the children of Israel ate of the produce of the land. Verse 12 is especially clear: “And the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the produce of the land; neither had the children of Israel manna any more; but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year” (Heb.). Manna was a type of Christ as the life supply for God’s people. As these verses in Joshua point out, the produce of the good land is the continuation of the manna. Therefore, if the manna typified Christ, the produce of the good land must also typify Him. By means of the supply of manna in the wilderness, God’s people were able to build the tabernacle as God’s dwelling place. In the same principle, through the supply of the rich produce of the land they were able to build the temple as a more solid dwelling place for God. No doubt, the good land enjoyed by the children of Israel is a significant type of Christ, for through the enjoyment of it the temple was built. We may even say that it is the ultimate type of Christ found in the Scriptures. It is a complete and all-inclusive type of Christ.
To have our hearts comforted and knit together in love unto the full knowledge of Christ as the mystery of God includes having the full knowledge of Christ as typified by the good land. We need to know in detail how Christ is typified by all the items mentioned in Deuteronomy 8:7-11. He is the water that springs from valleys and hills. He is the wheat and the barley, which signify respectively the incarnated and crucified Christ and the resurrected Christ. We must go on to see how Christ is typified by the wine, oil, figs, pomegranates, and minerals. Without these verses in Deuteronomy 8, we would be short in our understanding of the all-inclusiveness of Christ.
The land is the crucial focus of the Old Testament. This is the reason that in the Old Testament the Lord speaks of the land again and again. He called out Abraham and told him that He would bring him into a certain land, which was the land of Canaan. Consider how many times from Genesis 12 to the end of the Old Testament the Lord referred to the land. Actually, the center of the Old Testament is the temple within the city built in the good land. If we know the Scriptures and have light from God, we shall realize that the center of God’s eternal plan, speaking according to the type, is the land with its temple and city. Beginning with the book of Genesis, the Old Testament takes the land as the center and mentions again and again something related to the land. As we have pointed out repeatedly, the land is the figure of the all-inclusive Christ, a type of Christ as everything to us.
Satan, the enemy of God, has been doing his utmost continually to frustrate the people of God from enjoying the good land. He will do whatever he can to spoil the enjoyment of Christ as the land. Not long after God created the heavens and the earth, with the intention of giving the earth to mankind as an enjoyment, Satan did something to frustrate Him. Because of Satan’s rebellion, God had to judge the universe, and due to that judgment the earth was buried beneath the waters of the deep. After a period of time, God came in to work and to recover the land from the waters of the deep. Upon this recovered land, an abundance of life came into being, and there came forth a life with the image of God, a life committed with the authority of God. However, not long afterward the enemy of God came in again to deceive man and to put God in a position where judgment upon the earth was again imperative. At the time of Noah, the recovered earth was once more put under the waters of the deep. Speaking according to the type, man was separated from the enjoyment of Christ as signified by the land. But through the redemption of the ark, Noah and his family obtained the right to possess the land and enjoy all its riches. The flood separated the people from the earth, but the ark brought Noah and his family back to the enjoyment of the earth. Once again man took possession of the land and enjoyed its riches.
However, it was not too long before the enemy did something further to spoil the enjoyment of the earth, this time through the rebellion at Babel. Therefore, out of the fallen race made rebellious by Satan, God called one man, Abraham, and told him that He would bring him into a certain land. However, even this chosen one gradually drifted away from the land into Egypt, and the Lord had to bring him back to the land. Eventually, his descendants left this land and went down into Egypt. After a long period of time, the Lord brought His people out of Egypt and back to the good land. Centuries later, the enemy moved again and sent the army from Babylon to spoil the land and capture the people. But after seventy years the Lord brought them back once more to the good land. By all this we see that the history of the Old Testament is related to the land. God’s work is always to recover the land, whereas the enemy’s work is always to frustrate, spoil, and hinder the enjoyment of the land and do something to bring the land into chaos. The enemy’s intention is to assault the land and take it over. But after the enemy makes his attempt, God moves to fight for His people and to recover the land again.