The anointed Heir of God, as the Captain of salvation, has entered into rest and glory through death and resurrection (6:20). He did this as the Pioneer and Forerunner. He took the lead to pass through the pathway of the cross and entered into rest and glory. He is now sitting at the right hand of God (1:3, 13) crowned with glory and honor (2:9) to be the qualified Captain of our salvation that He may bring us through the pathway of the cross into the good land of rest and glory.
In His foresight, God decided that this unique Heir needed a group of joint-heirs. God decided that it was not good enough for Christ to enter into the good land alone. God wanted this unique Heir to enter into the good land of the glorious expression of the Divine Being with a group of joint-heirs. The more joint-heirs there are, the more glory there is. Consider Joshua’s entering into the good land with the children of Israel. Certainly God was able to bring Joshua alone into the good land. Suppose Joshua, a single person, marched into the good land, saying, “I have come here by the Almighty God to take over the land.” Although that would have been possible, it would not have been glorious. When Joshua took the lead to enter into the good land, at least two million people marched after him. That frightened all the Canaanites to death. It was not a single heir who entered into the good land but an army of joint-heirs. We all know what happened at Jericho. God could have performed the same miracle with just Joshua, but if He had done this, there would have been no glory. An army marched around Jericho, and all the demons were terrified. That was the glorious taking of the good land. The entrance into the good land was a glorious entrance. We are going to march into the good land. We have a Captain, the real Joshua. We all must be His partners in taking the good land.
Before we can be His partners, we must firstly be His partakers enjoying Him. When we enjoy Him and partake of Him, His title is not Christ but the Holy Spirit. We are partakers of the Holy Spirit (6:4). But when He is the Captain, He is Jesus Christ, not the Holy Spirit. When He is our enjoyment, He is the Holy Spirit. When He is our Captain, the One leading us, He is Christ.
Do not be bothered by all these different titles. As I have showed you already, in the first two chapters of Hebrews we see that the very God is the Son of God. This Son of God is also the Captain and the High Priest. This is similar to Zechariah 2 where we see that the Lord of hosts sent the Lord of hosts. The Lord of hosts is both the Sender and the Sent One. Likewise, in the first chapter of Hebrews we are told that God has spoken, that God has spoken in the Son, and that, eventually, the Son is addressed, “O God.” Following this, we are told that He is the Captain of our salvation and our High Priest. How wonderful and marvelous this is! As our Captain, He is the Christ. As our enjoyment, He is the Holy Spirit. When He takes the lead to march on, He is our Captain. When He comes into us to be our enjoyment and nourishment, He is the Holy Spirit.
We are Christ’s partakers and partners. When we enjoy Him, we are His partakers. When we follow Him, we are His partners. Are you a partaker of Christ? This means that even in troublesome times we enjoy Him, partaking of His riches and nourishment. After we have enjoyed Him in such a way, He becomes the Captain who takes the lead, and we follow Him as His partners. When He marches, we march with Him. He is the Captain and we are the army. By this, we shall enter into His rest (4:8-9) and be brought into His glory (2:10).
Christ, the Captain of salvation, is the real Joshua leading God’s people to take and possess the land. We, His partners, are the real Calebs sharing with Him in the taking and possessing of the land. We need to spend much time to consider this matter of taking the good land, for it is not as clear as it should be. The lowest view of the good land is that when a saint dies he crosses the river Jordan and enters the good land. Many songs speak about crossing the cold waves of Jordan. Even John Bunyan interpreted the good land this way in Pilgrim’s Progress. The inner life people, the so-called spiritual people, say that Canaan is not the third heaven, because Canaan is filled with demons, giants, enemies, and Canaanites. Since there are no enemies in the third heaven, the inner life people rejected the low concept of the good land being heaven. But the inner life people did not tell us clearly what Canaan is. Some of them say that Canaan signifies the air, the heavenlies, where the principalities, powers, and evil spirits are. From my youth I was not satisfied with the concept that Canaan was heaven, but as a young seeker of the Lord I did accept the concept that Canaan was the heavenlies full of Canaanites, principalities, and powers. However, after a certain period of time, I began to doubt this. If Canaan is the heavenlies where the wicked spirits are, then where is the rest? My point in mentioning this is that Christ’s operation is to gain and possess the good land of Canaan. Without the good land of Canaan, God’s purpose cannot be fulfilled. Christ’s enterprise is to take the good land of Canaan, possess it, and build God’s house in it. The good land is the fulfillment of God’s purpose in Christ, which is to have a full expression of Himself. For this, Christ is the Operator, and we are His partners. We are His partners in this enterprise. We have been inaugurated with Christ for this purpose. We have been inaugurated with Christ to share His office that, with Him, we might take the land, possess it, and build the house of God. Eventually, this will be the land of glory. Praise the Lord that we are His partners. Being a partaker is for the purpose of being a partner. We are not only partakers of Christ but also His partners!