The things of the New Testament always have their types in the Old Testament. The types are pictures of that which is revealed in the New Testament, and a picture, we know, is better than a thousand words. A lengthy definition of a certain matter may still not make the matter clear, but when we look at a picture, it is immediately clear to us. This is the way the Lord teaches us. The Old Testament gives us the pictures, which are called the types; then the New Testament gives the definitions. If we are not clear regarding certain points in the definition, we can go back to the picture and compare the picture with the definition. Then everything will be exceedingly clear.
Even the matter of the church ground has a clear picture in typology in the Old Testament. The book of Deuteronomy tells how rich the good land is, and how marvelous is the enjoyment of that land. The manna in the wilderness is a type of one aspect of Christ, and the rock in the wilderness is a type of another aspect of Christ. But the good land is the type of all the aspects of Christ. It is a complete type, an all-inclusive type, including all the rich aspects of Christ. This is the enjoyment into which the people of God must enter. But for the enjoyment of the riches of Christ as typified in Deuteronomy, God has appointed two ways. One is the enjoyment of the riches of the good land by the people individually. This is the personal and individual way. Everyone is free to enjoy the riches of the good land by themselves at any time and in any place. But there is another way, and that is the enjoyment of the riches of the good land as a corporate worship to the Lord. In this way, there is no choice as far as the place is concerned. There is only one unique place throughout the whole land of Israel chosen by God. In all the land of the twelve tribes, there is only one place which is the proper place for all the people of God to come together to enjoy the riches of the good land as a corporate worship to God. This is not the individual, but the corporate way.
In Deuteronomy, the produce of the good land is divided into two parts. The first part is a tenth part, the tithe. The tithe must be the first tenth, not the last tenth. This part must be separated for the corporate worship of all the people to God. They have no right to enjoy this ten percent in any place they choose; they must bring it to the place which the Lord has chosen. This tithe is holy unto the Lord. They may prefer to enjoy it in their homes or in some other places, but they have no right to do so. They must bring this ten percent to the very place which the Lord has chosen.
The rest of the produce, the ninety percent, may be enjoyed in any place. This part is for the individual enjoyment of the riches of the good land. Thus, there are these two ways to enjoy the riches of Christ according to Deuteronomy. One is individual, and the other is corporate.
Some say that Christ is not narrow, but that He is everywhere, and this is true. I can enjoy Christ in my home, and I can enjoy Christ in any place. But this is only one way. There is another way in which we may lack. We may enjoy Christ in a private way with the ninety percent, but we cannot enjoy Christ as the firstfruit and topmost portion.
Whenever we come together on the proper ground, which is the ground ordained by the Lord, we enjoy the topmost portion of the rich Christ. We can testify this by our experience. Sometimes we pray-read in our homes and enjoy the Lord in a rich way. We feel quite satisfied. But when we come to the meetings of the local church, we see that there is no comparison. One is the topmost portion, and the other is the bottom. Of course, everything of Christ is good, but there is still a difference between the firstfruit and the remainder.
If it were possible, I would never miss the meetings of the church in Los Angeles. I would stay in Los Angeles forever to enjoy the church meetings. I do not know how good it will be when we get into the New Jerusalem, but I believe I have enjoyed a real foretaste in the meetings in Los Angeles. There is no comparison with the topmost enjoyment of the meetings of the local church. The Holy Spirit does withhold something for the church.
There are only two ways to enjoy Christ: the individual way and the corporate way, the personal way and the Body way. Praise the Lord, there is a Body way! The people of Israel had their corn, their oil, and all the produce of the good land. They enjoyed ninety percent of all these things in their own homes and in any place they wished. Undoubtedly this was a kind of enjoyment. But I do not think they were nearly as excited with this enjoyment as they were with that of the Feast of Tabernacles. At that time, they brought the firstfruits of the produce of the good land to Mount Zion. There they met with all the people of Israel to put all the offerings together as an exhibition of the rich produce of the good land.
There were three main feasts that brought all the people of Israel to Jerusalem: The Feast of Passover, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles. I am certain that whenever the time of these feasts arrived, all the people were moved with joy. Even before coming to Mount Zion, while they were ascending, they would sing Psalm 133:1, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!”
These two ways must be exceedingly clear to us. We should enjoy Christ in a personal, individual way, but we still need to enjoy Him even more in a corporate, Body way. The topmost produce of the good land is for the corporate way of enjoyment. The best portion of Christ is for our corporate enjoyment.
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