When Moses brought the case of the five daughters of Zelophehad before Jehovah (v. 5), He said to him, "The daughters of Zelophehad speak rightly; you shall surely give them possession of an inheritance among their father's brothers and cause the inheritance of their father to pass to them" (v. 7). The Lord seemed to be saying, "Their request is right. It is pleasing to Me. I do not like to see one of My people dying without having a remembrance in the history of My people. The request of the five daughters is according to My desire."
The five daughters were given an inheritance among their father's brothers. There was, however, a binding term. This term, or condition, was that the daughters were not to marry outside their tribe (36:2-3, 6-7).
We may apply the type in 27:1-11 to our situation as believers today. In Christ we have the right to inherit the divine things. We need to request our rightful inheritance, and God will approve this request. However, there is a condition that we must fulfill: we must not marry outside our "tribe." Our tribe today is Christ and the church.
In verses 8 through 11 we have further aspects of this statute of judgment. If an Israelite died and had no sons, his inheritance would be given to his daughters (v. 8). If he had no daughters, his inheritance would be given to his brothers (v. 9). If he had no brothers, his inheritance would be given to his father's brothers (v. 10). If his father had no brothers, his inheritance would be given to his nearest relative of his family (v. 11). This typifies that the possession of the enjoyment of Christ must be based on our relationship in life.
The kind of relationship in life we have will determine the kind of enjoyment we will possess. This means that the degree of our relationship in life determines the amount of our enjoyment of Christ.
The enjoyment of Christ may differ both in kind and in degree. If our experience of life is high, then our enjoyment of Christ will also be high. But if our experience of life is low and very limited, then our enjoyment of Christ will also be low and very limited. The enjoyment of Christ is measured by our experience of life.
This portion of Numbers concerning the statute of judgment for the women's inheriting of the land actually concerns Christ and the church. Perhaps you are wondering where we can see Christ and the church in 27:1-11. These verses often refer to the inheritance, meaning the inheritance of the good land. In typology, the good land signifies Christ, and the inheritance of the good land signifies our enjoyment of Christ. Hence, in these verses Christ is typified by the inheritance of the good land. But where do we see the church? The church is signified by the father's house, which is mentioned in 26:2 and which is implied and assumed in chapter twenty-seven. The church today is the house of God (1 Tim. 3:15), and we who once were strangers and sojourners are now "members of the household of God" (Eph. 2:19). We all are members of our Father's house. As members of the household of God, we have the real source of life and the channels, the means, of receiving life.
Although we have the right to enjoy the inheritance of the good land, in order to execute this right, we need the house and the channels. Apart from the house and the channels, we cannot exercise our right of inheritance. We need the source and the channels. The source is life, and the channels are the fellowship of life. Many of us can testify that in the church we have received the divine life and have enjoyed the fellowship of the divine life.
The receiving of the divine life and the enjoyment of the fellowship of the divine life result in the enjoyment of Christ. Some dissenting ones, however, have a wrong concept concerning the enjoyment of Christ. They claim that we should not care for any work but should care only for the enjoyment of Christ. The kind of enjoyment promoted by them is unbalanced. According to John 15, the proper enjoyment of Christ is a balanced enjoyment, for it is related to fruit-bearing. The enjoyment of Christ that is without fruit-bearing is improper and unbalanced. Actually, this so-called enjoyment of Christ is wrong and unreal. The Bible reveals that if we have the real enjoyment of the good land, we will have produce. If someone claims to enjoy his inheritance of the good land but never has a harvest, we may rightly question what kind of enjoyment he is talking about. His enjoyment may be improper and even false, for it is an enjoyment without a harvest. A timely harvest is the proof of our enjoyment of Christ as the good land.
The typology in Numbers reveals that if we are to enjoy Christ as our inheritance, participating in the riches of Christ, we must have the church life. In order to enjoy Christ, we must have the church life. The church life is somewhat related to our fellowship with those who are close to us. Numbers 27:8-11 indicates that the possession of the inheritance, the possession of the enjoyment of Christ, is based on our relationship in life. Perhaps it is better to replace relationship, a human word, with fellowship, a divine word. Our fellowship with the saints in the church is a kind of relationship. We must have this relationship, this fellowship, if we are to have the enjoyment of Christ. If we lose our fellowship with the saints, we will also lose our enjoyment of Christ. From this we see that it is risky and dangerous to give up the church life, as some dear ones have done. Those who give up the church life with the fellowship of life spontaneously lose their right to inherit the enjoyment of Christ. May we all be enlightened concerning this crucial matter and remain in the fellowship of life with the saints, the members of God's great family.