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
Opening Word of the Prophesying Meeting
Reading the verses in each day.
Reading the main points in the outlines.
Pray-reading the verses:
Thanks be to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light—Col. 1:12.
For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places—Eph. 6:12.
Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have become fruitful and have taken possession of the land—Ex. 23:30.
Word of Appetizer
Christ is our good land. How can we obtain this all-inclusive Christ? God’s enemy Satan does his utmost to hinder God’s people from obtaining and enjoying Christ as their good land. Negatively, Canaan signifies the aerial and heavenly part of Satan’s dark kingdom, the heavenlies filled with satanic forces; even today, the evil powers still veil the all-inclusiveness of Christ from God’s people. The Israelites’ fighting with the Canaanites to possess and enjoy the good land typifies the entire church, including all the members, engaging in spiritual warfare against “the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places,” that the saints may enjoy Christ as the all-inclusive land. To possess the good land as our enjoyment, we must defeat these satanic forces.
Spiritual Burden
To appreciate the significance of the Israelites’ entering and fighting in Canaan, we need to realize that, typically, Canaan has a twofold significance: positively, it is the land of abundance, signifying the all-inclusive Christ with His unsearchable riches; negatively, it signifies the aerial and heavenly part of Satan’s dark kingdom, the heavenlies filled with satanic forces.
Christ is our good land. God wants us to gain Christ, but between us and the good land is a stratum of demonic, devilish forces; to possess the good land as our enjoyment, we must defeat these satanic forces.
Concluding Word of the Prophesying Meeting
The Revelation of the Truth
If we read the Bible carefully, we shall see that there is a warfare for the good land.
To appreciate the significance of the Israelites’ entering and fighting in Canaan, we need to realize that, typically, Canaan has a twofold significance.
The different races occupying the good land signify different aspects of our natural life.
The Experience of Life
Behind our natural life there is the evil power (note 1, Matt. 16:23) utilizing, manipulating, and directing every aspect of our natural life to hinder us from possessing the all-inclusive Christ and enjoying His riches.
Because our natural life hinders us from possessing Christ and enjoying Christ, we must hate it (Luke 14:26) and be willing to put it to death as we grow in Christ. The more Christ is magnified in us, the more we cooperate with God to put our natural life to death.
Practice and Application
We need to realize that spiritual warfare—the warfare between Satan’s kingdom and God’s kingdom—is a necessity; to possess the good land as our enjoyment, we must defeat these satanic forces.
If we want to possess Christ as our enjoyment, we must be a corporate warrior, that is, the church as the Body of Christ, warring against the satanic forces, defeating the satanic forces, that we may gain more of Christ to build up the Body of Christ, to establish and expand the kingdom of God, that Christ may come back to possess the land.
PROPHESYING TOPICS—TWELVE TOPICS PER WEEK
Day 1
T1 [Satan] will do whatever he can to spoil the enjoyment of Christ as the land (Gen. 7:17; Eph. 2:2)
(Please illustrate that not long after God created the heavens and the earth, Satan did something to frustrate Him.）
T2 All the battles in the Old Testament were concerned with this piece of land (Eph. 2:2; 6:12)
(Please illustrate that God’s work has always been to recover the land; while the enemy’s work is to hinder, spoil, and cause the land to fall into chaos.)
Day 2
T1 Knowing this land is a picture of Christ (Deut. 8:7; Col. 1:12)
(Please illustrate that the good land God promised His chosen people is a type of Christ.）
T2 The land is the crucial focus of the Old Testament (Deut. 8:7; Col. 1:12)
(Please illustrate that the land is the figure of the all-inclusive Christ, a type of Christ as everything to us.)
Day 3
T1 Satan as the ruler of the authority of the air is frustrating the people on earth from contacting God and from receiving Christ (Eph. 2:2; 2 Cor. 4:4)
(Please illustrate that there is an exceedingly real spiritual warfare in which we must engage.）
T2 Learn how to fight the spiritual warfare (Deut. 7:2)
(Please illustrate that after the Israelites entered the good land, they had to defeat the Canaanites, the usurpers of the land, what does it typified?)
Day 4
T1 The different nations occupying the good land typify different aspects of our natural life (Exo. 23:24; Col. 3:5)
(Please illustrate that behind our natural life is a spiritual power.）
T2 Our natural life must be cut off gradually as we grow in life (Exo. 23:29-30)
(Please illustrate that inward significance of God’s not driving out the nations in a year.)
Day 5
T1 In typology, Canaan signifies the aerial part, the heavenly part, of the dark kingdom of Satan (Eph. 2:2; Col. 1:13)
(Please illustrate that on the negative side, Canaan signifies the main part, the leading part of Satan’s kingdom.）
T2 Note two characteristics of Canaan (Eph. 3:8; 6:12)
(Please illustrate that our enjoyment of Christ as the all-inclusive land depends on our defeating the enemies typified by the Canaanites.)
Day 6
T1 The higher part of the spiritual warfare is against the evil spirits and demons in the spiritual realm (Eph. 6:10-11)
(Please illustrate that Satan’s kingdom includes evil angels, demons, and fallen men.）
T2 Defeating the three gate guards of the land of Canaan (Eph. 6:10-11)
(Please illustrate that the history of the Israelites’ warfare with the Canaanites is a type, a picture, of this warfare that we have today with the fallen angels and with the demons.)