Man’s true possession is God, and man was created as a vessel to contain God. Genesis 1:26 says that man was made in the image of God, and Romans 9 reveals that man was created to be a vessel. Man was created a vessel to contain God so that God might fill man and express Himself through man.
Consider a bottle, which is a vessel. In itself such a vessel is empty. What is the possession of a bottle? A bottle’s possession is its content. The principle is the same with any kind of vessel: the possession of a vessel is the content of that vessel. If a vessel does not have its content, it does not have its possession. For a vessel to be without content, to be without its possession, is to be empty, and to be empty is to be poor.
Man was created as a vessel to contain God. If man does not contain God, this means that man does not have his possession. Without God as his content, man remains a poor, empty vessel. God’s intention is to be man’s content, his possession.
In the realm of material things, if we have the needed possessions, we shall have land for the producing of food, and we shall have a house for our lodging. Daily we need food to eat and a house in which to dwell. In brief, we need land and a house. These are the basic necessities in man’s living.
The New Testament indicates that God is our real land. To His chosen people, the children of Israel, God gave a good land, a land flowing with milk and honey. For what purpose did He give them the land? God gave the land to His people so that they would have food for eating. This good land is a type of God in Christ to be the supply for our eating. Eating is a spiritual necessity, and Christ is the supply to meet this need.
In Psalm 90:1 we see that God is also our dwelling place: “Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.” Have you ever realized that God is your dwelling place? Even in the Old Testament we are told that God was the dwelling place of His chosen people. Therefore, God is our land and also our house, our dwelling place.
Psalm 16:5 says, “The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup.” Here we see that the Lord is our portion for our inheritance and for our cup. He is our portion in two ways—as food for our eating and as a house for our dwelling. According to Psalm 90:1 and Psalm 16:5, God intends to be man’s possession, to be man’s land and lodging.
Our daily necessities in human life include four main items: clothing, food, housing, and transportation. Of these four, food and housing are the most important. We may be able to live without adequate clothing and transportation, but we cannot live without food and lodging. Even a bird needs food and a nest. The Bible reveals that Christ is our real clothing; Christ is the righteousness that covers us. Furthermore, we may say that Christ is also our real transportation. Elsewhere, we have pointed out that Christ is the real “jumbo jet” that brings us to God the Father. Christ is our clothing, transportation, food, and housing.
In the year of jubilee the concern was not with clothing or transportation; instead, the concern was with eating and housing. Therefore, a man could return to his provision, to his land for eating, and also to his family, that is, to his house. In a spiritual sense, our land is God Himself, and our house also is God. God’s intention is to be our possession for food and lodging.
The Gospel of John reveals that the Lord Jesus is our food and our dwelling place. In John 6 we see that He is the real bread, the bread of life, the living bread that came down out of heaven (vv. 32-33, 35, 48, 50-51). Hence, He is our heavenly food. The fact that the Lord Jesus is also our dwelling place is implied by His word, “Abide in Me” (John 15:4). To abide in the Lord means to take Him as our abode, as our dwelling place. According to the Gospel of John, we should eat the Lord and also dwell in Him, for He is our food and our lodging.
The Bible is consistent. Although the Bible speaks of many things, when we get into the depths of the Word, we see that it reveals in both the Old Testament and in the New Testament that the Triune God is our food and our lodging. He is edible, and He is our real dwelling place.
Consider the situation of the priests in the Old Testament. Concerning the priesthood, there was the tabernacle for lodging and there were the sacrifices for eating. Those who served God as priests could eat the sacrifices and dwell in the tabernacle. Both the tabernacle and the sacrifices are types of Christ. As today’s priests, we should eat Christ and dwell in Him.
Certain Christians who are not knowledgeable in the Scriptures may be troubled when they hear about eating Christ. They may say, “Do you intend to eat Christ? This is blasphemy! Christ is your Redeemer, Savior, Master, Lord, and God. How can you eat Him?” Yes, the Lord Jesus is our God, Lord, Master, Savior, and Redeemer. Nevertheless, He Himself told us that He is our food. He is food for us to eat, and He is also the abode in which we dwell.
Are you in the actual experience of the jubilee? Do you know what it really means to be in the jubilee? First, to be in the jubilee is to eat the Lord Jesus. If you do not eat Him, you are not in the jubilee. No one can be in the jubilee with an empty stomach. A proclamation concerning the jubilee may be made, but if your stomach is empty, you will not care for that proclamation.
I can testify that I am truly in the jubilee because daily I eat the Lord Jesus. Through eating Him as my spiritual food, I enjoy the jubilee. To me, the jubilee is a feast, a time for eating the Lord Jesus.
If you are to be in the jubilee, you need to eat the Lord. You need to enjoy Him. When we come to Leviticus 25 in the Life-study Messages, we shall see that the main thing in the experience of the jubilee is eating.
Furthermore, in order to be in the jubilee, we need to have Christ as our lodging, as our dwelling place. When Christ is our home, we have true rest. We enjoy a real sabbath as we lodge ourselves in Christ. Hallelujah, Christ is our food and our dwelling place!
We have pointed out that God created man with the intention that man take God as his possession. After creating man, God placed him in a garden and in front of the tree of life. The garden is for lodging, and the tree of life is for eating. Here we see that the man created by God had two important needs: he needed God to be his food, and he needed God to be his garden, his dwelling place. Perhaps you have not heard before that God should be our garden. But where did Adam live? He did not live in a house or in a city; he lived in a garden. Both the garden and the tree of life are symbols of God being man’s enjoyment.