Our enjoyment of the produce of the good land typifies our enjoyment of the unsearchable riches of Christ. In order to participate in the enjoyment of the good land, we must first eliminate idols and all things related to idol worship. Deuteronomy 12:2-3 says, “You shall completely destroy all the places where the nations whom you will dispossess have served their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every flourishing tree. And you shall tear down their altars and crush their pillars; and their Asherahs you shall burn with fire, and the idols of their gods you shall cut down; and you shall destroy their name from that place.” Before they could fully enjoy the riches of the good land, the children of Israel had to completely destroy the places where the nations worshipped their false gods. The worship centers of the pagans had to be completely destroyed. The idols and their names all had to be eliminated from the good land. Today, if we want to enjoy the riches of Christ, we too must eliminate the idols in Catholicism and in the Protestant denominations, any name that is set up other than the name of Christ, and every pagan practice that has been adopted, such as Christmas and Easter.
Deuteronomy 12:5 says, “But to the place which Jehovah your God will choose out of all your tribes to put His name, to His habitation, shall you seek, and there shall you go.” Moreover, 14:23 says, “And you shall eat before Jehovah your God, in the place where He will choose to cause His name to dwell, the tithe of your grain, of your new wine, and of your oil and the firstborn of your herd and flock, that you may learn to fear Jehovah your God always.” The children of Israel had no right to keep the firstborn of their cattle and the top tenth of their produce for themselves. They were not allowed to eat these things at home; they could enjoy them only in the place where God chose to put His name.
In the same principle, we cannot enjoy the choice portion of Christ unless we gather together with the saints on the ground of oneness chosen by God. God prohibits us from abusing His grace. We must go to the meetings of the church in oneness to enjoy the top portion of Christ.
The best produce of the good land must be brought to the unique place of God’s choice and presented to God as offerings to be enjoyed with Him (Deut. 12:5-7, 13-14, 17-18). The children of Israel were required to set aside the top tenth of the produce of the land and the firstborn of the cattle as well. Three times a year—at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles—they brought the tithes and the produce to the house of God in Jerusalem, the unique place of God’s choice, and offered them on the altar. There was a portion for God, a portion for the priests, and a portion for the one who presented the offering. Hence, during the feasts, they enjoyed these riches before God and with God. This signifies that God’s people should offer the riches of Christ to God on the ground of oneness for their enjoyment with God and with all the people, to be the fellowship between them and God and the mutual fellowship among themselves.
The ark is a type of Christ as the salvation of God’s elect in two aspects: the redeeming aspect and the saving aspect. The redeeming aspect is to redeem God’s elect from God’s condemnation and judgment. The saving aspect is to save God’s elect from God’s punishment that they may not suffer the plagues that the world will suffer; it is also to save them from the crooked and perverted generation and to usher them into a renewed age, into a new realm of resurrection, that they may live a new life, the church life, before God and for God.
The good land typifies the riches of Christ as the enjoyment of God’s elect. Christ has saved God’s chosen people into a new age that they may enjoy the riches of Christ in the new age. Christ is all-inclusive and unsearchable, and the good land of Canaan is the type of such an all-inclusive One. The riches of the good land include water—waterbrooks, springs, and fountains, typifying the supply of the life of Christ as the living water within us, which makes us feel refreshed and watered and which also flows out of us to water others. There are eight kinds of rich food in the good land. Among them there are two kinds of grain: wheat, typifying the Christ who was incarnated, the Christ who died, and the Christ who was buried, and barley, typifying the resurrected Christ. There are four kinds of trees: the vine, typifying Christ as the One who cheers God and man, the fig tree, typifying the sweetness and satisfaction of Christ as our supply, the pomegranate, typifying the abundance and beauty of Christ’s life, and the olive tree, typifying Christ as the Son of oil, a man full of the Holy Spirit. Finally, there are milk and honey, signifying the goodness and sweetness of the life of Christ, produced by His generating life—the vegetable life—and by His redeeming life—the animal life. The final stage of the riches in the good land is the minerals, including stones, mountains, iron, and copper. These are for the building, for the kingdom, for fighting, and for security, indicating that some elements in the life of Christ are both materials for God’s building and weapons for spiritual warfare.
In order to participate in the enjoyment of the good land, we must first eliminate idols and all things related to idol worship. Moreover, we must be in the place of God’s choice and we must present the riches of the good land as offerings to God and enjoy them with Him. This shows that if we want to enjoy the riches of Christ, we must eliminate the idols in Catholicism and in the Protestant denominations, any name that is set up other than the name of Christ, and every pagan practice that has been adopted. Moreover, we must gather together with the saints on the ground of oneness chosen by God and present the riches of Christ that we may enjoy them in the presence of God with God and with all the people.