Laboring on the All-inclusive Christ Typified by the Good Land - 1

Message Title: Fighting for the Good Land

we are here to declare the Lord's victory. the Lord has given us the opportunity to actually enter into our portion of the all-inclusive Christ, and learn to labor on the all-inclusive Christ day by day. 

Exodus 6:26 It was this same Aaron and Moses to whom Jehovah said, Bring out the children of Israel from the land of Egypt according to their armies.

how did they become army in that situation? 

Exodus 12:51 And on that very day Jehovah brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their armies.

when the Israel people left Egypty, they were marching out as an army. God's complete redemption produced an army to fight for His interest on earth. so they became an army because their thorough experience and application of God's redemption. the result of this rememption was that they were formed to be an army. 

when Moses sent 12 spies to spy the good land, ten of them came back with evil reports. only Joshua and Caleb trusted in God and encouraged Israel people to go up and take the land. That generation, except Joshua and Caleb, did not enter into the good land. after entering into the land, Caleb asked from Joshua to give him his alloted land, and Caleb went up to fight and defeat those pagan tribes and possed his portion of land. among his alloted land, there was the place Hebron, meaning unending fellowship. the meaning of Hebron is to remain in the fellowship, not only fellowship with God, but also with other members of the Body of Christ. Hebron is also the place where we mature in life. 

experientially, what have we been feeding on? every morning, we may go through the holy word for morning revival, which is wonderful. but this is just manna, not the all-inclusive Christ, not the rich produce of the good land. we do not want to repeat the history, when the whole generation, except Joshua and Caleb, did not enter into the good land. God had to wait for the next generation to rise up to enter into the land. we do not want to cause the Lord to wait for another generation. we must be the generation to enter into, to fight and defeat the enemy, to possess and enjoy the good land. 

I. If we read the Scruptures carefully, we will see that there is a battle for the good land. 

Satan, the enemy of God, is doing his utmost to keep the people of God from taking possession of and enjoying Christ as the good land. sometimes, during a conference or camp, we enjoy so much of Christ that our whole being is refreshed and uplifted. but after this, our being may drop into a low dungeon where we lost the enjoyment. this is because we have an enemy Satan, who is always working as much as he can to keep us away from the enjoyment of Christ. 

II. In order to understand the significance of the Israelites entering Canaan and the warfare in Canaan, we need to know that Canaan has a twofold significance in typology. 

Ephesians 3:8 To me, less than the least of all saints, was this grace given to announce to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ as the gospel

on the positive side, Canaan, a land of riches, typifies the all-inclusive Christ with His unsearchable riches. the good land is the full, complete, and ultimate type of Christ found in the Scriptures, a type of Christ who is all and in all and who is everything to us. in order for Christ to be everything to us, this requires the cross to be applied to anything and everything that is not Christ within us. if we are still something, Christ cannot be everything to us.  

Ephesians 2:2 In which you once walked according to the age of this world, according to the ruler of the authority of the air, of the spirit which is now operating in the sons of disobedience;

on the negative side, Canaan signifies the aerial part, the heavenly part, of the dark kingdom of Satana, the heavenlies that are full of Satan's forces. today, Christ has ascended to the third heavens, sitting at the right hand of God, to be everything to us as our good land. but during the layers between us and the third heaven, there are the evil spirits who are the rulers in the air, who are frustrating and preventing us from contacting and receiving Christ. this is as shown in the picture of all the tribes of Canaanites, stopping Israel people to enter into and possess the good land. 

III. The various pagan tribes that occupied the land signify the different aspects of our natural life

behind our natural life are the forces of evil, who utilize, manipulate, and direct the aspects of our natural life to frustrate us from taking possession of the all-inclusive Christ and enjoying His riches. 

Luke 14:26 If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, and moreover, even his own soul-life, he cannot be My disciple.

because the natural life frustrates us from possessing Christ and enjoying Him, we must hate it, and as we grow in Christ, will be willing to drive it out. when we grow in life, we will be more conscious of the different aspects of our natural life, not because self exaimination. when we are aware of the natural life, we touch the resurrection power of Christ also, and are willing to allow the cross to deal with the natural life. 

Exodus 23:30 Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have become fruitful and inherit the land.

God cuts off our natural life gradually, little by little, according to the degree of our growth in the divine life. the more Christ increases in us, the more He will replace our natural life. God promised to drive out the pagan tribes, but God's people had to cooperate with Him by taking the initiative in destroying them. the more passive we are, the more the enemy attacks. so we need to initiate by exercising our spirit, by turning our being to the Lord. 

IV. If we would possess the good land for the fulfillment of God's purpose, we must engage in spiritual warfare to defeat the satanic forces. 

there are two kingdoms, the kingdom of God and Satan's kingdom. if we are going to fight on behalf of the kingdom of God, we need to live in the reality of the kingdom, and we need to have basic experience, knowing to be under the authority of God. we need to know what it is to be under the throne. 

There is an exceedingly real spiritual warfare in which we must engage; we must fight the battle to gain the all-inclusie Christ for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ, the new man, and the kingdom of God.

if we would take possession of Christ for our enjoyment, we must be a corporate warrior, the church as the Body of Christ, fighting against and defeating the satanic forces so that we can gain more of Christ for the building up of the Body of Christ, setting up and spreading the kingdom of God so that Christ can come back to inherit the earth. the Body must be built. when the Body is built up, the new man is growing unto maturity. when the new man is mature, the Lord has His bride making herself ready.