«　WEEK 5　DAY 2　»

　　2 Cor. 4:3-4 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled in those who are perishing, in whom the god of this age has blinded the thoughts of the unbelievers that the illumination of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, might not shine on them.

　　[Our] inheritance is the Triune God Himself with all that He has, all He has done, and all He will do for His redeemed people. This Triune God is embodied in the all-inclusive Christ (Col. 2:9) who is the portion allotted to the saints as their inheritance. The Holy Spirit, who has been given to the saints, is the foretaste, the seal, the pledge, and the guarantee of this divine inheritance (Rom. 8:23; Eph. 1:13-14), which we are sharing and enjoying today as a foretaste and will share and enjoy in full in the coming age and for eternity (1 Pet. 1:4). The good land truly is a type of the all-inclusive Christ. Christ, the embodiment of the processed Triune God, has been given to us as our inheritance. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, p. 468)

　　The center of the Old Testament is the temple within the city built in the good land. If we know the Scriptures and have light from God, we shall realize that the center of God's eternal plan, speaking according to the type, is the land with its temple and city. Beginning with the book of Genesis, the Old Testament takes the land as the center and mentions again and again something related to the land. As we have pointed out repeatedly, the land is the figure of the all-inclusive Christ, a type of Christ as everything to us.

　　Satan, the enemy of God, has been doing his utmost continually to frustrate the people of God from enjoying the good land. He will do whatever he can to spoil the enjoyment of Christ as the land.

　　Out of the fallen race made rebellious by Satan, God called one man, Abraham, and told him that He would bring him into a certain land. However, even this chosen one gradually drifted away from the land into Egypt, and the Lord had to bring him back to the land. Eventually, his descendants left this land and went down into Egypt. After a long period of time, the Lord brought His people out of Egypt and back to the good land. Centuries later, the enemy moved again and sent the army from Babylon to spoil the land and capture the people. But after seventy years the Lord brought them back once more to the good land. By all this we see that the history of the Old Testament is related to the land. God's work is always to recover the land, whereas the enemy's work is always to frustrate, spoil, and hinder the enjoyment of the land and do something to bring the land into chaos. The enemy's intention is to assault the land and take it over. But after the enemy makes his attempt, God moves to fight for His people and to recover the land again. (Life-study of Colossians, pp. 165-167)

　　We must fight the battle with the enemy. Though we are enjoying a portion of the all-inclusive Christ, yet the enemy and his evil forces in the heavenlies are still usurping and occupying the land. You and I have to fight the battle to take possession of the entire land. Brothers and sisters, as soon as we enjoy Christ in such a way, we realize in our spirit the reality of the evil forces in the heavenlies. These evil forces are veiling the all-inclusiveness of Christ from the Lord's children. Very few of the Lord's people can realize the all-inclusiveness of Christ simply because of the accusations of the evil powers in the heavenlies. To this very day, the evil forces are still veiling the all-inclusiveness of Christ. Therefore, we must fight the battle. There is an exceedingly real spiritual warfare in which we must engage. By enjoying something of the all-inclusive Christ, we will be burdened for this fighting; we will be burdened for this battle. That is why we have been formed as an army. The conflict is before us. (The All-inclusive Christ, p. 165)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Colossians, msgs. 6, 20