EXCERPTS FROM THE MINISTRY

C. By Circumcision

After the children of Israel entered into the good land by crossing the Jordan, they were circumcised; that is, their flesh was cut off (Josh. 5:2-4). Thus, the self was buried in the river, and the flesh was cut off by circumcision. The church life with Christ helps us both to bury the self and to cut off the flesh.

D. To Enjoy the Riches of the Good Land

After burial and circumcision, the children of Israel began to enjoy the riches of the good land (Deut. 8:7-10; Josh. 5:10-12). At that time, the manna ceased and was replaced by the produce of the land. Through the rich enjoyment of the all-inclusive land, God’s people were strengthened to fight against God’s enemy and to establish God’s kingdom. In that kingdom the temple was built.

The Old Testament reveals two stages of the church life, the stage of the tabernacle and the stage of the temple. Our church life today may not yet be in the stage of the temple, but may still be in the stage of the tabernacle. The reason for this is that most of us are not yet walking in Christ as the good land. We can testify that Christ is our Lamb, our unleavened bread, our manna, or our rock with the living water. But we must go on to experience Christ as our spacious land. We should not only eat of Him, but we should also walk in Him.

The main hindrances to entering into the all-inclusive Christ are not worldliness and sin; they are the self and the flesh. Worldliness and sin are dealt with at the first two stations. But we still need a burial to deal with the self and a circumcision to deal with the flesh. If we are absolute to go on with the Lord, we shall eventually become willing to have our self and flesh dealt with. However, such dealings do not come easily. It is especially difficult for young people to bury the self and to cut off the flesh. In the meeting we may declare, “To me to live is Christ.” But after the meeting, we live in the self and in the flesh. We may proclaim, “No more I, but Christ liveth in me.” However, this may merely be a teaching, for in our daily living we are full of self. The self and the flesh keep us from the experience of the good land.

Look at the picture in the Old Testament again and notice that the children of Israel did not enjoy the produce of Canaan until the self had been buried and the flesh had been cut off. But as soon as these things were dealt with, the children of Israel began to enjoy the rich produce of the land. It was the riches of the land, not the manna in the wilderness, that enabled them to fight against the enemies in the good land.

E. The Warfare in the Land

After the children of Israel entered into the good land, they had to defeat the Canaanites, the enemies that were occupying the land. These enemies typify the principalities and powers in the air that seek to keep us from enjoying the all-inclusive Christ. Within us we are troubled by the self and the flesh, and above us, in the air, there are the evil powers of darkness. When we bury the self and circumcise the flesh, the powers of darkness in the air will be exposed. The self and the flesh help the evil powers. Actually, if we are still in the self and in the flesh, the principalities and powers need not do anything to hinder us, for we are already frustrated by the self and the flesh. However, as soon as we deal with the self and the flesh, the powers of darkness will come forth to war against us. Then we must learn how to fight the spiritual warfare. The spiritual warfare is fought in the good land with the support of the rich produce of Christ.

We have pointed out that the good land for us today is the Triune God processed to become the all-inclusive Spirit. The Triune God is not only our Creator, Redeemer, Savior, Master, and Lord; He is the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit. Through incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection, Christ, the embodiment of the Triune God, has been processed to become the life-giving Spirit to indwell His chosen people. Thus, the Triune God reaches us today as the life-giving Spirit.

This wonderful Spirit is now in our spirit (Rom. 8:16). First Corinthians 6:17 says that he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit. Therefore, in the New Testament we are commanded to walk in spirit (Gal. 5:16, 25; Rom. 8:4). This is the consummate commandment. Not to walk in Christ is the greatest sin a believer can commit against God. If you do not walk in Christ, you are rebellious, even though you may be very virtuous. Because God’s desire is that Christ be lived out of us, even our natural virtue is a form of rebellion against God and His economy.

We all have confessed our sins, failures, and shortcomings to the Lord. But have you ever asked the Lord to forgive you for not living by Christ? Not many Christians have prayed in this way: “Lord, forgive me for not taking You as my life today. My behavior was very good, but I did not live by You or take You as my person. Lord, forgive me for being in rebellion against You. You wanted to be lived out of me, but instead I lived according to something other than Yourself. I lived by my opinion, not by Your revelation. According to this revelation, I should walk in You. But during the whole day, Lord, I didn’t walk in You at all.” I can testify that, especially recently, I have made this kind of confession to the Lord almost every day.

It is easy to be centered on so many things other than Christ Himself. We may be centered on religion, ethics, morality, or virtue, but we are not centered on Christ. If our behavior is poor, we feel regretful and repent. But if we are short in living by Christ, we may have no feeling about it and sense no need to confess. According to John 16, the unique sin of an unbeliever is not to believe in Christ. But the primary sin of a believer is not to walk in Christ. The New Testament does not command us to walk according to a particular teaching or doctrine. But it does charge us to walk in Christ or to walk in spirit. In Galatians 5:25 Paul says, “If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.” In Romans 8:4 Paul says that the righteous requirements of the law are fulfilled by those who walk according to spirit. The spirit here in Romans 8 is the mingled spirit, the all-inclusive Spirit mingled with our spirit.

Do not think that the land of Canaan is far away and that you must wander for years before you can enter into it. On the contrary, the good land is within us, for it is the processed God who is the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit indwelling our spirit. Like Caleb in Numbers 13:30, we must believe and declare that through the church life with Christ we are well able to possess this good land.

Remember that the ark with the tabernacle is the factor by which we may enter into the good land. Praise the Lord that we have enjoyed the Passover, the sweet water, the manna, and the living water from the cleft rock. We also praise Him that at the mountain we have seen the vision concerning God and His economy and that we have built the tabernacle, the temporary church life. Thus, we all have the ark with the tabernacle, Christ with the movable church life, as the factor by which to enter into the land. Because of this factor, we may have the boldness to enter into our spirit to enjoy the all-inclusive Spirit as the good land.

Let us forget religion, philosophy, ethics, and even spiritual seeking, and let us care for Christ and for having direct contact with Him in our spirit. We must learn to not do anything or say anything apart from Christ. In John 15:4 the Lord said, “Abide in Me and I in you.” In the next verse He said, “Apart from Me you can do nothing.” We need to have our living and our being in Christ as the good land. He is both the center and the circumference, both the centrality and the universality. As the good land, He is everything to us. Our final goal must be to pass through the wilderness and the mountain into the good land. Let us enter into this land to possess the all-inclusive Christ and to enjoy His unsearchable riches that God’s kingdom may be established and that the temple may be built.