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According to the record of the Old Testament, the children of Israel were in Egypt, they journeyed through the wilderness, and they entered into the good land. When the Israelites were in a fallen state in Egypt, they were under God’s judgment, they were under the bondage of the Egyptians, and they were permeated with the odor of garlic. The judgment upon them was related to God’s righteousness, their bondage was related to the Egyptians, and the odor of garlic was related to their living. This was the condition of us all before we were saved. We were under the condemnation of God’s judgment, we were under the bondage of the world, and we were saturated with the odor of worldly “garlic.” Garlic represents various worldly things, such as dancing and gambling. Before we were saved, we all had the odor of garlic. But we all were chosen and predestinated to be God’s people so that He may have a dwelling place on earth. God’s intention is to make us His habitation on earth so that the God in heaven may come down to earth. This habitation cannot be in Egypt; it must be in the good land. However, we, God’s chosen people, had fallen into Egypt. How could we escape from Egypt, pass through the wilderness, and enter into the good land? For this we need God’s deliverance, God’s salvation.
Now we must see how God exercises His deliverance of His chosen people. God delivers us by feeding us. He saves us by giving us something to eat. Thus, we are delivered out of our pitiful situation by eating. We have a saying: “Eating Jesus is the way.” Jesus, however, is profound, and eating Him is not a simple matter. Jesus is unsearchably rich and all-inclusive; He is everything. When we were in Egypt, we had to eat Him as the Lamb because we were under God’s judgment and were held in bondage to the world. The Lamb shed His blood for our sins, cleansed us of our sins, and redeemed us from God’s judgment. This Lamb also has the nourishing life. By eating Him we are strengthened to leave Egypt. Thus, by the blood of the Lamb we are redeemed from God’s judgment, and by the life of the Lamb we are energized and strengthened to escape from Egypt.
When the children of Israel ate the Lamb, they also ate unleavened bread (Exo. 12:8). Likewise, we eat Christ not only as the Lamb but also as the unleavened bread. When we take Christ as our life, this life not only energizes us and strengthens us; it also purifies us. This life is an unleavened life, a purifying life. The more we call on the name of the Lord Jesus and take Him into us, the more we are purified from within. We become not only strong but also pure. The blood of the Lamb redeems us from God’s condemnation, the nourishing life of the Lamb strengthens us and energizes us to walk away from bondage, and the unleavened bread, eaten with the flesh of the Lamb, purifies us.
The children of Israel not only ate unleavened bread but also bitter herbs. Few Christians pay attention to the matter of the bitter herbs in Exodus 12. As the life of Christ purifies us, it becomes within us a sense that gives us a bitter feeling, a bitter consciousness, whenever we try to touch something sinful or worldly. The indwelling Christ will never allow us to touch such things. If you attempt to go back to the “garlic” of the world or to sinful things after you have partaken of Christ, you will have an unpleasant feeling, a sense of bitterness, within you. When I was young, I was very fond of playing soccer. Apart from my studies I cared for only one thing, and that was soccer. How happy I was on the soccer field! However, after I was saved, I could no longer enjoy soccer. Whenever I tried to play, there was a bitter taste inwardly instead of a sweet one. One day as the ball came my way, I was unable to kick it. Something within was restraining me. The bitter feeling within me was so strong that I could not move my feet. Although I wanted to play soccer, the indwelling Christ did not allow me to do so. This is the experience of Christ as the bitter herb. Have you not tasted such bitter herbs since you were saved? Praise the Lord for Christ as the bitter herb!
Let us take another illustration of the bitter herb, this time from the experience of married life. I have never met a married couple who have not exchanged words. No wife wants to lose the case, and no husband wants to be subdued by his wife. Thus, a wife and husband quarrel. Before you were saved, you might have enjoyed exchanging words with your husband and boasting to a friend concerning how you subdued him. However, things changed after you were saved. As you were exchanging words with your husband, something within told you to stop it. Perhaps you did not heed this inner sense and continued arguing with him. However, after he left for work, you found that you had no peace. Something inside was troubling you, and there was a bitter feeling within. Instead of the desire to tell your friend about how you subdued your husband, you sensed a very bitter taste within. A few days later, you tried to exchange words with your husband again, but this time you were not able to speak. When he asked you what was wrong, you said that there was nothing wrong and encouraged him simply to go to work. This is Christ as the bitter herb.
All women enjoy buying beautiful things. When you went shopping before you were saved, you felt happy about the things you bought. But after you were saved, your feelings about shopping began to change. Suppose a sister goes shopping. As she gazes at a certain beautiful item, something within tells her not to look at it. Suppose the sister does not obey this feeling and purchases the item anyway. Suddenly, her happiness goes, and the sense of bitterness comes. The item was on sale at a fifty-percent discount. Nevertheless, the inner sense had forbidden her to buy it. Therefore, after making the purchase and bringing it home, the sister senses a bitter taste within. Because of this bitter feeling, she cannot pray well or even sleep well. This is the experience of the troubling Christ as the bitter herb.
Do not think that Christ always gives you peace. Many times He gives a bitter taste instead of a sense of peace. Oh, Christ is a real troublemaker! Although the Lamb is sweet, the herb is bitter. Many times we say that Christ is sweet, and we often praise Him for His sweetness, but Christ is also bitter. There are times when we should praise Him for His bitterness and say, “Lord Jesus, I praise You for Your bitterness!” If we have been trained by experiencing Christ as the bitter herb, we shall obey the inner sense when it tells us not to buy a certain item in a department store. We know that if we buy it, we shall suffer bitterness. However, we are not easily trained.
I have suffered this kind of bitterness again and again. Forty-five years ago, as a young man, I was never willing to lose a case to my wife. But every time I exchanged words with her, I experienced the bitter herb. Therefore, I said, “Lord, by Your mercy, I will never argue with my wife again.” However, the next day my wife troubled me again. Perhaps she said, “What are you doing in your room? Don’t you know it’s time for breakfast? Why won’t you come out?” To this, I would reply, “What is the matter with you? What is wrong with me staying in the room to pray? Don’t you know that I am having morning watch? I have been reading the Bible and praising the Lord.” Immediately after saying these words, I sensed the bitter taste again. I have had to learn the same lesson over and over. Eventually, when my wife asked me what I was doing, I did not even dare to say, “Praise the Lord.” Rather, I kept silent and inwardly praised Him. When I did this, I experienced happiness instead of bitterness. This inner sense of bitterness surely teaches us. Hallelujah for Christ as the bitter herb!
By the blood of the Lamb we are redeemed, by the life of the Lamb we are strengthened, and by the unleavened bread with the bitter herbs we are purified and kept sinless. Thus, we are redeemed, released, delivered, purified, and cleansed. No longer are we in Egypt under God’s condemnation and the world’s slavery; no longer are we saturated with the odor of garlic. Now we are in the wilderness.
However, we still need to have the heavenly element added to us. Although we have been redeemed, delivered, cleansed, and purified, all this is negative; we do not yet have anything positive. Hence, we are not yet qualified to be God’s dwelling place. In order to be God’s habitation, something heavenly must be wrought into our being. Therefore, we need to eat the heavenly manna and drink the living water so that something heavenly and living might be constituted into us. Now we are daily and even hourly eating of the manna and drinking of the water. The more we eat and drink in this way, the less we smell like garlic and the more we smell like manna. Exodus 16:31 says that the taste of manna was “like wafers made with honey.” The taste of manna is sweet; it is heavenly, not worldly. When the heavenly element of manna is constituted into our being, we become qualified to be God’s dwelling place on earth. In this way the tabernacle was erected in the wilderness, and it was filled with the glory of God (40:34-35).
As we pointed out in the last chapter, the tabernacle was good, but it was neither solid nor established. By eating manna, we become wafers with the taste of honey. Certain brothers are like sweet wafers: they break when you touch them. When the saints from Germany came to Los Angeles several years ago, they were not the temple; rather, they were the tabernacle. They were all wafers. However, since then many of them have become stones. If I pour water upon a wafer, the wafer will be ruined. But if I pour water on a stone, the stone will remain the same. I praise the Lord that there are many stones in Stuttgart. This indicates that the church in Stuttgart is no longer the tabernacle in the wilderness but the temple in the good land.
Some saints in the churches are still eating the Lamb. A number of new ones are eating the Lamb. They are still in the world, not yet in the wilderness. There are some others who are eating manna. Because those who eat manna are wafers, I am very easy on them, and I dare not touch them. But some of the elders can testify that I am not easy on them, because they are stones. When I pour water upon them, it proves that they are stones. Some in the church are eating the Lamb, others are eating the manna, and still others are eating the rich produce of the good land.
Christ is not only the redeeming and nourishing Lamb; He is also the all-inclusive land. Colossians 2:6 says, “As therefore you have received the Christ, Jesus the Lord, walk in Him.” Christ is the good land in which we may live, walk, and have our being. Christ is a sphere, a realm, in which we may dwell. Colossians 2:7 says that we have been rooted and that we are being built up in Christ. Being rooted in Christ is for growth, and being built up in Christ is for building. We have been put into the good land of Christ, and now we are the plants growing in this land that is everything to us. Christ is the Lamb, the manna, and the spacious land with all kinds of produce.
In Christ as our land we have different kinds of water. Deuteronomy 8:7 speaks of three kinds of water: waterbrooks, springs, and fountains, that is, deep waters. Moreover, Deuteronomy 8:8 lists seven types of food: wheat, barley, vines, figs, pomegranates, olive oil, and honey. In the New Testament wheat signifies the incarnated and crucified Christ. The Lord Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless the grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12:24). In this verse Christ indicated that He was a grain of wheat falling into the earth to die. This means that He was the incarnated and crucified Christ.
The first grain to ripen in the Holy Land is barley. Thus, barley signifies the resurrected Christ. We must experience Christ both as the incarnated and crucified One and also as the resurrected One. Day by day we may enjoy Christ as two basic items, as wheat and as barley.
Christ is also the wine that makes us happy and stirs us up. He is also the fig to satisfy us and to nourish us. Pomegranates signify the expression of the riches of the life of Christ, and the olive oil, the fullness of the Holy Spirit. All these points are covered in detail in the book The All-inclusive Christ.
Deuteronomy 8:8 also lists honey along with the plant life. For the most part, honey has to do with the plant life. It is derived mainly from flowers and trees. Of course, a part of the animal life is involved — that little animal, the bee. Without the flowers we cannot have honey, and without the bees we cannot have honey either. The flowers and the bees cooperate to make honey. These two lives are mingled together, and honey is produced. Christ is both the plant life and the animal life. The plant life is the generating life, and the animal life is the redeeming life. The plant life has no blood, but it generates and multiplies. Only the animal life has the blood for redemption. Hence, Christ is not only the generating life but also the redeeming life. Daily we need to enjoy Christ as the incarnated One, the crucified One, and the resurrected One. Then we shall have the wine to make us happy and to cheer us up. This will bring the satisfaction of the fig tree, the expression of the riches of life, and the fullness of the Holy Spirit. When all these are combined with Christ’s redeeming life, we have the sweet honey.
Deuteronomy 8:9 says the good land is also “a land whose stones are iron, and from whose mountains you can mine copper.” Stones are for building, and a mountain signifies God’s kingdom. Daniel 2:35 says, “The stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.” Christ is the stone that smites the nations, and the mountain is the kingdom of God. God’s building brings in God’s kingdom. The tabernacle in the wilderness could not bring in God’s kingdom. Only the temple built in the good land could bring in the kingdom of God. David fought the battle, subdued the enemy, and prepared the ground for the building of the temple. Solomon actually built the temple. When the temple was built, the kingdom of God was established on earth.
When the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they had the tabernacle, but they did not have the kingdom. There was no way that the kingdom could be established with the tabernacle because the Israelites did not have the stone, the iron, or the copper. They were not yet able to fight the battle to gain the ground for the building of the temple. When they entered into the good land, they stopped eating manna and began to eat the produce of the land (Josh. 5:12). They no longer ate something that came down from heaven but something that grew out of the earth.
The manna from heaven had no minerals in it. But foods such as wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, and olives contain minerals. In these solid foods there are iron and copper. Although not all these foods are sweet, they are substantial. Manna, on the contrary, was sweet, but it was not solid. Manna could not produce stones; it could only produce wafers. Some saints are lovely, sweet, soft wafers. These saints are good for tasting or for exhibition, but they are not good for fighting. No one can fight a battle with wafers or honey. I am happy to see that there are many stones in Germany. My intention in coming here is not to taste wafers. My burden is to fight, to smite the enemy. For this, we need stones, iron, and copper. Now is the time to fight the battle against religion and to build up the temple for the establishment of God’s kingdom.
I would ask you to consider what you are eating today. Are you eating the Lamb, the manna, or the rich produce of the good land? Praise the Lord for those who are eating the Lamb! But they must progress to a higher type of eating, progressing from eating the Lamb to eating the manna. We thank the Lord for those who are eating the manna, but they also must go on to the highest eating, the eating of the rich produce of the good land. In your Christian life, the eating of Christ must progress from the Lamb and the manna to the solid food of the good land. You need to eat the wheat, the barley, and all the other foodstuffs that have the minerals to make you strong stones, iron, and copper for God’s building and for the fighting of the battle.
We must build the temple and fight the battle so that God may have the kingdom. This is what God needs today. The tabernacle is not adequate. God needs a temple with a city in a kingdom with the kingship and the fighting capability. The Lamb energizes us to leave Egypt, and the manna nourishes us and constitutes us with the heavenly element. Although both of these items are good, they are not good for fighting. No one would fight a battle with a lamb or with manna. We need solid food with minerals in it. We need to be rocks, not wafers. We need weapons made out of iron and copper. Oh, we need stones, iron, and copper to build up the temple, to establish the kingdom, to fight the battle, and to defeat the enemy! When we come to this point, we have reached God’s goal. Here we not only have the tabernacle; we have the temple with the city in the kingdom. As His people eat the solid food and take in the minerals that make them stones, iron, and copper, God has His kingdom.
By now we all should be clear concerning three kinds of eating: the eating in Egypt, the eating in the wilderness, and the eating in the good land. The eating of the Lamb is the initial eating, the eating of the manna is the higher eating, and the eating of the solid food with the minerals is the highest eating. The first eating strengthens us to escape the world, and the second enables us to be reconstituted with the heavenly element so that we might be the tabernacle. But neither is adequate for the solid building, for fighting, or for establishing God’s kingdom. In order to have all this, we must proceed to the highest eating, the eating of the solid food with the minerals. These minerals make us rocks for God’s building so that the kingdom may be established, and they make us iron and copper to fight the battle to subdue the enemy.
I am sure you all are eager to know how to eat solid food, and I am burdened to share the way with you. Eating the manna is easy, and eating the Lamb is even easier. But it is not easy to eat the solid food that contains minerals. One chapter covers the eating of the Lamb, and two chapters, the eating of the manna. But whole books in the Bible are devoted to the eating of the solid food with the minerals. If you want to know how to eat the solid food, you need to read the whole book of Leviticus, a book that is not easily understood. You also need to read Numbers and all the books from Deuteronomy to 1 Kings.
Once we are in the good land, we shall no longer eat manna, for our supply is the rich produce of the land. In order to eat this rich produce, we must first live in the good land. If we still live in the wilderness, we cannot eat the solid food. In the wilderness there is no wheat, no barley, no grapes, and no figs; there is just manna.
Second, we need to labor on the good land. We need to till the ground, sow the seed, water the seed, cultivate the soil, and then reap the harvest. The good land in which we are living is Christ. Day by day we need to work on Christ. Morning watch, prayer, and dealing with the Lord are all aspects of working on Christ. Sometimes in morning watch we may till the ground and sow the seed; at other times we may water the seed or cultivate the soil. Do not be lazy and say, “It does not matter whether or not I have morning watch, pray, or spend time to deal with the Lord.” It makes a great deal of difference whether or not you do these things. We need to labor on Christ. We all must be diligent to work like farmers. We must till the ground, remove the weeds, cultivate the soil, water the seeds, and even kill the damaging bugs and snails.
Snails are subtle; they hide themselves under various coverings, and they mainly come out at night while we are sleeping to eat the tender herbs. Recently, I was wondering why some of the plants around my house were not growing. At first I thought this was due to the lack of sunshine. Eventually, I learned that it was because the plants were being eaten by snails. One day I found thirty snails in a certain large plant. There are many “snails” in our Christian life. Hence, we cannot afford to sleep. If we wake up early in the morning, we shall see how much these “snails” are eating our Christian life. Taking care of these “snails” is part of laboring on Christ.
If we labor on Christ as the good land, our harvest will be rich in both crops and flocks. After we reap the harvest, we shall have wheat, barley, vines, figs, olives, and pomegranates. In addition to all the plant life, in the good land there is the animal life — the oxen, the cattle, and the sheep. This is the harvest of our rich experience of Christ. As we shall see in later chapters, the top ten percent of our harvest must be kept for the Lord. In subsequent chapters we shall consider in detail how to eat the solid food, the food that makes us stones, iron, and copper for the building of the temple, the establishing of the kingdom, and the defeat of the enemy.
