Laboring on the All-inclusive Christ Typified by the Good Land - 9

Message Title: A Land of Pomegranates

the good land typifies the all-inclusive Christ, who is the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit. this Spirit is the Spirit of life. so we can say that this land is a land of life, the land of the Spirit. in this land, there is an item, the pomegranate, as the abudance, the fullness of life. the truth is for life. our study of the truth is for the experience of life. without life, all that we know will just be in the realm of doctrine, knowledge and teaching. the burden of the Lord today is that we the believers should keep growing in life until maturity. 

I. In the Bible pomegranates signify the fullness of life, the abundance and beauty of life, and the expression of the riches of life.

a ripe pomegranate with its seeds gives the impression of the fullness of life and of the abundance and beauty of life. this reminds us that we should not be content with our current growth. it is not enough just to grow a bit. we need to become a full-grown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness. 

Colossians 1:13 Who delivered us out of the authority of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,

we need to know what the rulership of the Spirit is, what is the restriction by the Lord Jesus. the more we are willing to be ruled and restricted by the Lord Jesus out of our love for Him, the more we will grow in life. 

Colossians 1:12 Giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you for a share of the allotted portion of the saints in the light;

if we see the vision of the all-inclusiveness and extensiveness of Christ, we will concentrate our whole being on this Christ, and He will fill and saturate us. Our being will be occupied with the vast, unsearchably rich, extensive Christ. to us to live will be the Christ who takes possession of us and fills and occupies us with Himself. for this, we need to undergo much experience of being ruled and restricted by the Lord, so that we would be filled and saturated. we cannot be just satisfied with receiving something of Christ, but we need to filled, to be made full in Christ. 

Colossians 1:28 Whom we announce, admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man full-grown in Christ;

to be full-grown in Christ is to be filled, saturated, and permeated with Christ. this is to have every part of our being occupied with Christ. 

II. Pomegranates and golden bells were on the bottom part of the high priest's robe, which signifies the church

Exodus 28:33 And you shall make on its hem pomegranates of blue and purple and scarlet strands, all around its hem, and bells of gold between them all around:

Exodus 28:34 A golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, on the hem of the robe all around.

as the members in the church, though we are human beings, the fullness of life should be expressed in the church's humanity. when God's divinity is trespassed, there will be the sounding of the golden bells, as the voice of warning, the speaking from the divinity of the church. on the one hand, there is the uplifted humanity of Christ being expressed through the human beings in the church; at the same time, it affords the Spirit to sound out warnings to us according to His divinity, to keep us in oneness. 

the beauty of life expressed in our humanity and the divine sounding from the golden bells are signs of a proper church life.

III. the two hundred pomegranates surrounding the capitals at the top of the pillars in the temple signify the expression of the riches of life

1 Kings 7:18 So he made the pillars; and there were two rows of pomegranates around the one network, to cover the capitals that were at the top of the pillars. And he did the same for the second capital.

1 Kings 7:19 And the capitals that were at the top of the pillars in the portico were of lily work, four cubits in diameter.

1 Kings 7:20 So then the capitals that were on the two pillars were above and close to the bulge that was beside the network. And there were two hundred pomegranates, in rows around both capitals.

the pillars of bronze: God's judgement work

lily work at the top of capitals like a crown: a life of trusting in God

pomegranates two hundreds in rows: the fullness of life

the checker work wrapping the whole capital: the intermixed, complicated and complicating environment in our life

chain work: to bind us, to hold us together. when we are too depressed by the complicated environment, the chain keeps us and not let us go. 

Those who judge themselves (bronze) and regard themselves as nothing will be able to bear responsibility in full in the midst of an intermixed and complicated situation (nets of checker work and wreaths of chain work) because they live not by themselves but by faith in God ( lily work); thus, they express the riches of life two hundredfold (pomegranates). if we want to become the pillars in the church life, we need to consider all these elements. while we are going through all these complications, we should realise that they come all under the sovereignty of the Lord, to mold us, to form us into the pillars. therefore, we should not try to run away, or try to push away the environment. rather, we should learn to live the life of a lily, turning to the Lord and trusting in Him. 

Jeremiah 52:22 And a bronze capital was upon it; and the height of each capital was five cubits; and the network and pomegranates were upon the capital all around, all of bronze; and the second pillar and the pomegranates were like these.

Jeremiah 52:23 And there were ninety-six pomegranates toward the open air; all the pomegranates on the network were a hundred all around.

out of every ome hundred pomegranates, ninety-six were exposed to the open air, and four were covered. 96 = 12*8. 12 is the number for eternal perfection, completition; 8 is the number for the freshness of resurrection. what this means is that the expression of the riches of life is eternally complete, in the freshness of resurrection, and in the Spirit. the fact that four of every one hundred pomegranates were hidden indicates that our natural being, our natural life, and our self must be concealed. when our natural being disappears, we have the rich expression of the life of Christ in the reality of the spiritual air. in our church life, if every one of us all hold on to our natural being, our natural life, there will be no way for the resurrection life to be expressed freely. all these are related to our becoming the pillars, our becoming the pomegranates in the church life, so that the building can go up for the completion of this age.

IV. Accorcding to Song of Songs, pomegranates have a spiritual significance in the progressive experience of an individual believer's loving fellowship with Christ. 

Song of Songs 4:3 Your lips are like a scarlet thread, / And your mouth is lovely; / Your cheeks are like a piece of pomegranate / Behind your veil.

after the seeker has gone through all the dealings in the previous three chapters, now she became someone so beautiful, so attractive, no longer a wild horse pulling Pharoah's chariot. particularly, the beloved described the seeker's cheek like pomegranate. now the seeker expresses, the beauty, the abundance of life. 

Song of Songs 6:11 I went down to the orchard of nuts / To see the freshness of the valley, / To see whether the vine had budded, / Whether the pomegranates were in bloom.

this verse is the description of the lover's work. after she becomes beautiful, her work, her service is decribed here. the lover was serving the Lord, in growing the garden. while we serve the Lord, do we consider our serving the Lord as growing the garden? we are not here to just get the work done, but like apostle Paul, to present every man full-grown to the Lord. the Lord does not want to just bless us with many numbers. the true blessing the Lord wants to give us is the blossoming of the pomegranates. we need to pay attention to the blooming of the pomegranates, the fullness of life. we need to pay more attention to life than work. 

Song of Songs 7:12 Let us rise up early for the vineyards; / Let us see if the vine has budded, / If the blossom is open, / If the pomegranates are in bloom; / There I will give you my love.

now the lover's union with the Lord is so complete that she is not just working for the Lord, but working with the Lord. in the midst of her work, she could give her love to the Lord. she is not exhausted or distracted with the work, but the work and the Lord is one. 

Song of Songs 4:13 Your shoots are an orchard of pomegranates / With choicest fruit; / Henna with spikenard,

Song of Songs 4:14 Spikenard and saffron; / Calamus and cinnamon, / With all the trees of frankincense; / Myrrh and aloes, / With all the chief spices.

in Christ's enjoyment of His lover, she is an enclosed garden that grows all kinds of plants in different colors as different expressions of the inner life and in a variety of fragrances as the rich expression of the mature life. ths becomes the lover's beauty to the Lord; the lover of Christ is now rich in life, producing fruits to nourish and refresh, giving forth sweet frangrances, and displaying beautiful colors for Christ's enjoyment.