«　WEEK 1　DAY 2　»

　　Col. 2:9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.

　　1:27 To whom God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

　　The general sketch of Numbers is that the redeemed and sanctified Israelites were formed into a holy army of God, which was to proceed by following God's leading and was to fight for Him.

　　Whatever is written in the Pentateuch, the five books of Moses, is a type. In particular, in these books we see that the entire nation of Israel was a type of the church. As Israel was formed into an army, so the church should be formed into an army. Concerning this, we should not look at the present situation, at the outward appearance....Although we may have doubts about the existence of a church army, Satan knows that there is such an army. We need to believe that today there is an army formed with all the faithful ones, journeying and fighting all the time that God may have a kingdom with a house. (Life-study of Numbers, p. 3)

　　In a general way, we may say that the central thought of the entire Bible is Christ, for the Bible is focused on Christ as the center. But what is the central thought of the book of Numbers? The central thought of Numbers is that Christ is the meaning of life, the testimony, the center of God's people, and the Leader, the way, and the goal of their journey and fighting.

　　In Numbers Christ is revealed as the meaning of life for God's people. It seems that during the forty years in the wilderness, the two million Israelites were doing nothing. They did not engage in industry, commerce, or farming. But day by day they were busy with one thing—the Ark of God's testimony (Num. 7:89). The Ark of the Testimony was the center of the tabernacle, which was called the Tabernacle of the Testimony (1:50, 53). For forty years the Israelites worked for the keeping of the Ark with the tabernacle. The Ark with the tabernacle was the meaning of their life. If there had not been an Ark, the life of the Israelites would not have had any meaning. Both the Ark and the tabernacle were called God's testimony. Since the Ark typifies Christ, the meaning of the Israelites' life was to take care of Christ as the testimony of God. (Life-study of Numbers, pp. 3-4)

　　We were created in the image of the Lord Jesus. This means we were created in a way that matches Him so that He can enter into us. This is the meaning of the universe. The meaning of the universe is for God to be expressed. Wherever God is expressed, the universe has meaning. God gains His expression in a subjective way, not in an objective way. Since God desires to enter into man and be expressed through man, God created man in His image. This is very special. Every light bulb emits light for the sole purpose of expressing electricity. However, if electricity is not transmitted into the light bulb, the light bulb loses its meaning of existence. The meaning of our human life is for God to enter into us and be expressed through us. The meaning of the universe is for a group of people to receive God into them to be their content. Hence, to be saved means to be rescued by God out of a human life that is void of meaning into a life that is full of meaning. Now that we are saved, we have the meaning of our human life. Our life is meaningful because the Lord Jesus is in us. (CWWL, 1971, vol. 1, "The Meaning of Human Life and a Proper Consecration," pp. 142-143)

　　Before you were saved, did you know the purpose of the universe, and did you know the meaning of human life? Certainly you did not know these things. You did not know the purpose of your life on earth or what your destiny would be. Both the purpose of the universe and the meaning of your life were a mystery. Only when we receive a vision concerning Christ and experience God's salvation can we understand the mysteries of the universe and of our life on earth. (Life-study of 1 Corinthians, p. 160)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1971, vol. 1, "The Meaning of Human Life and a Proper Consecration," ch. 2