Many Christians do not have a proper understanding of the promised land. Some think that the good land refers to heaven. A well-known hymn even speaks of crossing the cold waves of the Jordan and passing over into the promised land of heaven. According to the concept of many, to die is to cross the Jordan, and to enter into the land is to go to heaven. But what about the pagan tribes and their idols? Will heaven be filled with pagans and idols? Is it necessary to fight against these pagan tribes and destroy their idols after we get into heaven? If we ask questions such as these, considering the significance of the pagan tribes and their idols, we shall realize that the promised land does not refer to heaven.
According to another interpretation, the good land typifies the heavenlies mentioned in Ephesians 6. In the heavenlies there are evil forces against which we must fight. This understanding is close to the proper significance. However, according to the Bible, the habitation of the saints will not be the air, the heavenlies. Do you expect to go to the air and dwell there? Thus, it is not satisfactory to say that the good land denotes the heavenlies of Ephesians 6.
For many years we were seeking to learn the significance of the good land. Approximately forty years ago, we began to realize that the good land is a type of the all-inclusive Christ. In the history of Israel, Christ is portrayed by different types: the Passover lamb, the unleavened bread, the bitter herbs, the sacrifices, the manna, the smitten rock flowing with living water, and the tabernacle with its utensils. The good land also is a type of Christ. Without the land as a type, we would not have an ultimate, consummate, all-inclusive type of Christ.
God redeemed His people through Christ as the Passover lamb so that they might enter into the good land. God’s goal is that we enter into the full enjoyment of Christ as the all-inclusive One. Having been redeemed through Christ as the Passover lamb, on our way to the good land we enjoy Christ as the manna and the rock. On the one hand, we are satisfied with Christ as the Passover lamb and the manna. On the other hand, Christ in these aspects stirs up our appetite for more of Him. As we are pursuing something richer, greater, and more all-inclusive with respect to Christ, Christ as the good land, we experience Him as the daily manna. Our goal, however, is to enter into Christ as the all-inclusive land.
According to Exodus 23:23-24, 32-33, there are frustraters which keep us from possessing the land. These frustraters, the various pagan tribes occupying the land, signify different aspects of our natural life. For example, one of the tribes was the Canaanites. The word Canaan means merchant. In our natural life there is a Canaanite, one who aspires to make money. Other tribes signify the lust of the natural man and the greed of the natural life. In principle, all of the pagan tribes signify aspects of the natural life. In a very real sense, these tribes are in us. This means that in our natural life there are many frustraters which hinder us from taking possession of the all-inclusive Christ.
Exodus 23:24 indicates that these pagan tribes had idols: “Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works.” Furthermore, verses 32 and 33 say, “Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods. They shall not dwell in thy land, lest they make thee sin against me: for if thou serve their gods, it will surely be a snare unto thee.” The gods of the pagan tribes were idols, and idols are related to demons. Behind every idol there is a demon. The idols with the demons behind them represent spiritual forces (Eph. 6:12).
Behind our natural life are spiritual forces. For example, do you like to lose your temper? To be sure, none of us is happy when we lose our temper. Within our natural life there is an evil temper, which we despise. But behind this evil temper there are spiritual forces, demons. Often it is these evil forces that cause us to lose our temper. As Christians, we have experienced losing our temper even when we did not want to do so. There was something, some kind of force, which caused us to lose our temper involuntarily. This indicates that the aspects of our natural life are utilized, manipulated, and directed by spiritual forces behind the scene. The aspects of the natural life with the spiritual forces behind them frustrate us from the enjoyment of the riches of the all-inclusive Christ.
Exodus 23:22 says, “But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries.” Here we see that if the children of Israel obeyed the Angel of Jehovah, Jehovah would cut off the pagan tribes. Verse 23 goes on to say, “For mine Angel shall go before thee...and I will cut them off.” He would drive out the pagan tribes from before His people.
Verses 29 and 30 say, “I will not drive them out from before thee in one year; lest the land become desolate, and the beast of the field multiply against thee. By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land.” Here we see that God would not cut off the pagan tribes all at once. Israel was still comparatively small in number. If God were to cut off all the tribes within one year, much of the land would be desolate, and the beasts would multiply against the people. This indicates that as Christians we should not expect to become fully spiritual overnight. If we were suddenly emptied of our natural life, we would be inwardly vacant. Then demons would have an opportunity to damage us.
After hearing messages on the natural life, we may desire to cut off the natural life all at once. However, to do this is to become vacant and be in danger of being taken over by demons. There is a sense in which we still need our natural life for a period of time. Then the more we grow in the Lord, the more He will cut off the natural life. As long as the number of the children of Israel was rather small, there was the need for the pagan tribes to remain so that the land might be kept from the beasts. But as God’s people increased, the Lord would cut off the tribes according to the degree of the numerical increase of His people. This signifies that as we grow in Christ, our natural life will be cut off gradually, according to the degree of our growth in life. God will not cut off the pagan tribes once for all, but He will do it “by little and little” according to our growth.
Verse 25 says, “And ye shall serve Jehovah your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee.” Here God promised to bless the people’s bread and water and to remove sickness from their midst. This indicates that spiritually God will give us food to nourish us and drink to satisfy us. Moreover, He will take away our weaknesses that we may come to full age, full maturity, full growth in life. In this way we shall take the all-inclusive Christ as our possession for our enjoyment.