LABORING ON THE ALL-INCLUSIVE CHRIST TYPIFIED BY THE GOOD LAND FOR THE BUILDING UP OF THE CHURCH AS THE BODY OF CHRIST, FOR THE REALITY AND THE MANIFESTATION OF THE KINGDOM, AND FOR THE BRIDE TO MAKE HERSELF READY FOR THE LORD'S COMING
Message One
Fighting for the Good Land
Scripture Reading: Josh. 1:2-6, 13; Eph. 2:2; 6:12; Col. 1:12-13
I. If we read the Scriptures carefully, we will see that there is a battle for the good land—Josh. 1:2-6, 13:
A. 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—Eph. 2:2; 6:12.
B. All the battles in the Old Testament were concerned with the good land— Josh. 1:2-6; 5:11—6:27.
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—Col. 1:12; Eph. 1:3; 2:2; 6:12:
A. On the positive side, Canaan, a land of riches, typifies the all-inclusive Christ with His unsearchable riches—Deut. 8:7-10; Col. 1:12; Eph. 3:8:
1. The good land is the ultimate type of Christ found in the Scriptures—Deut. 8:7.
2. The good land, the land of Canaan, is a type of the Christ who is all and in all and who is everything to us—Eph. 3:8.
3. In the Bible the land is a figure, a symbol, of Christ—Gen. 1:9; 2 Pet. 3:5:
a. The land that came out of the death waters on the third day in Genesis 1:9-10 and 13 is a type of the resurrected Christ who came out of death on the third day.
b. God's intention revealed in the Scriptures is that Christ should be our land—Deut. 8:7-10.
B. On the negative side, Canaan signifies the aerial part, the heavenly part, of the dark kingdom of Satan, the heavenlies that are full of Satan's forces—Eph. 2:2; 6:12:
1. Satan has his authority and his angels, who are his subordinates as the principalities, powers, and rulers of the darkness of this world; hence, he has his kingdom, the authority of darkness—Acts 26:18; Matt. 12:26; 25:41; Eph. 6:12; Col. 1:13.
2. To this day, evil forces are veiling the all-inclusiveness of Christ from God's people—2:8, 18; 2 Cor. 4:4.
3. The book of Ephesians indicates that in the heavenlies there are different layers—1:3; 2:2; 6:12:
a. Christ is in the highest layer, the third heaven, to be our everything as our good land—Deut. 8:7-10.
b. There is a lower layer of the heavenlies—the air, where Satan as the ruler of the authority of the air is frustrating the people on earth from contacting God and receiving Christ; this is typified by the Canaanites, who were frustrating Israel from entering into the good land—Eph. 2:2.
4. The Canaanites typify the fallen angels, the rebellious angels who follow Satan, who have become the powers, rulers, and authorities in Satan's kingdom, the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenlies—Rev. 12:4, 7; Eph. 6:12.
III. The various pagan tribes that occupied the land signify the different aspects of our natural life:
A. The gods (idols) of the pagan tribes (Exo. 23:24), with the demons behind them (cf. 1 Cor. 10:20), represent the spiritual forces of evil (Eph. 6:12).
B. Behind our natural life are the forces of evil (cf. Matt. 16:23, footnote 1), 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.
C. Because the natural life frustrates us from possessing Christ and enjoying Him, we must hate it (Luke 14:26) and, as we grow in Christ, be willing to drive it out.
D. God will not cut off our natural life, signified by the pagan tribes, all at once, because this would leave us inwardly vacant and in danger of being taken over by demons, signified by the animals of the field—Exo. 23:29; cf. Matt. 12:43-45:
1. God cuts off our natural life gradually, little by little, according to the degree of our growth in the divine life—Exo. 23:30.
2. The more Christ increases in us, the more He will replace our natural life.
E. God promised to drive out the pagan tribes (vv. 29-30), but God's people had to cooperate with Him by taking the initiative in destroying them—vv. 31-33; cf. Rom. 8:13; Gal. 5:24; Col. 3:5; Phil. 2:12-13.
F. The more Christ increases in us, the more we will be able to cooperate with God in driving out the natural life.
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—Josh. 6:21:
A. We need to realize the necessity of spiritual warfare—a warfare between the kingdom of Satan and the kingdom of God—Matt. 6:10; 7:21; 12:26, 28; Isa. 14:12-14.
B. When Israel was ready to take possession of the land of Canaan, the land was filled with demon-possessed people, idol worshippers, and Nephilim—Num. 13:33.
C. Because the Nephilim, a mixture of fallen angels and fallen man, dwelt in the land of Canaan, God commanded the children of Israel to take over this land and to destroy every living being there so that the human race could be cleared up—Deut. 7:1-2:
1. According to the divine thought, the nations in the land of Canaan had to be exterminated because they were devilish and mingled with demons—v. 2; Josh. 11:21-22; 14:6-14.
2. The Canaanites signify not only the fallen angels but also human beings who have joined themselves to the evil spirits, to the satanic power of darkness in the air—Num. 14:45.
D. The kings of Arad (21:1), of the Amorites (v. 21), and of Bashan (v. 33) were the "gate guards" on the east of the Jordan, guarding the land of Canaan, the kingdom of darkness, for Satan:
1. The kings defeated by God's army signify the rulers, the authorities, and the world-rulers of darkness, against whom we must struggle—Eph. 6:12.
2. In order for the children of Israel to enter into the good land, they had to pass through the territory controlled by these kings and had to fight against them, destroy them, and take over their territory.
3. To gain the unsearchable riches of Christ, we must crush the spiritual enemies signified by the king of Arad, Sihon the king of the Amorites, and Og the king of Bashan—3:8; 6:10-12.
E. Israel's fighting against the inhabitants of the land portrays the invisible spiritual warfare that is taking place behind the visible scene on earth—Dan. 10:10-21; Eph. 6:10-20:
1. It is crucial for us to see that behind the scene a spiritual struggle is taking place, a struggle not seen with human eyes.
2. In addition to the war on earth, there is a war between God and the satanic forces in the air—2:2; 6:12.
F. The fighting of the children of Israel against the Canaanites that they might possess and enjoy the good land typifies the spiritual warfare of the church as a whole, including all the members, against "the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenlies" (v. 12) that the saints may enjoy Christ as the all-inclusive land.
G. Christ is our good land, and God wants us to gain Christ, but there is a layer of devilish, demonic forces between us and the good land; if we would take possession of the good land for our enjoyment, we must defeat these satanic forces— Col. 1:12-13; 2:15; Eph. 3:18; 6:11-12:
1. There is an exceedingly real spiritual warfare in which we must engage; we must fight the battle to gain the all-inclusive Christ for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ, the new man, and the kingdom of God— vv. 10-12; 1 Tim. 6:12a; 2 Tim. 2:3-4; Col. 1:13, 18; 2:19; 3:10-11.
2. 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—Eph. 3:8; 4:16; Matt. 24:14; Rev. 11:15.