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The all-inclusive, extensive Christ is the reality of all the positive things in the universe—cf. Rom. 1:20; Eph. 3:18; Hymns, #496:
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Because the universe with the billions of things and persons in it was created for the purpose of describing Christ, He, in revealing Himself to His disciples, could easily find in any environment something or someone to serve as an illustration of Himself—Col. 1:15-17; John 1:51; 10:9-11; 12:24; Matt. 12:41-42.
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The Old Testament uses six major categories of things as types to describe Christ—human beings, animals, plants, minerals, offerings, and foods:
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Human beings typify Christ, such as Adam (Rom. 5:14), Melchizedek (Heb. 7:1), Isaac (Matt. 1:1), Jonah (12:41), and Solomon (v. 42).
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Animals typify Christ, such as a lamb (John 1:29), a lion, an ox, an eagle (Ezek. 1:10), and a gazelle (S. S. 2:9).
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Plants typify Christ (who is the tree of life—Gen. 2:9), such as the vine tree (John 15:1), the apple tree (S. S. 2:3), the fig tree, the pomegranate tree, and the olive tree (Deut. 8:8); the different parts of a tree are also types of Christ, such as the root, the stump, the sprout, the shoot, the branch, and the fruit (Isa. 11:1, 10; 4:2; Luke 1:42; Rev. 5:5).
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Minerals typify Christ, such as gold, silver, copper, and iron (Deut. 8:9, 13), and different kinds of stone: the living stone (1 Pet. 2:4), the rock (1 Cor. 10:4), the cornerstone (Matt. 21:42), the topstone (Zech. 4:7), the foundation stone, and precious stones (1 Cor. 3:11-12).
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Offerings typify Christ, such as the sin offering, trespass offering, burnt offering, meal offering, peace offering, wave offering, heave offering, and drink offering—Lev. 1—7; Exo. 29:26-28; Num. 28:7-10; cf. John 4:24.
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Foods typify Christ, such as bread, wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives, milk, and honey—6:35; Deut. 8:8-9; 26:9.
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In the New Testament, Christ is the Spirit of reality who makes the untraceable riches of all that He is real to us, guiding us into Himself as the divine reality—John 14:6a; 1 John 5:6; John 14:17; 16:13.
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The elements of the reality of all the types are in the Spirit, and the Spirit transfuses and dispenses all these riches into us through the Lord’s words—Phil. 1:19; John 6:63; Col. 3:16; Eph. 6:17-18; Rev. 2:7.
Morning Nourishment
John 6:63 It is the Spirit who gives life;.. .the words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.Eph. 6:17-18 And receive the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which Spirit is the word of God, by means of all prayer and petition, praying at every time in spirit and watching unto this in all perseverance and petition concerning all the saints.
There are six major categories of types in the Old Testament. The first category is human beings; the second, animals; the third, plants; the fourth, minerals; the fifth, offerings; and the sixth, foods. All these six major categories contain types of Christ.
[In] the category of animals,...Christ is a lamb, an ox, a lion, an eagle, a dove, and a turtledove. As a lamb, He became an offering to deal with our sins for our redemption. As an ox, He was not only made an offering but also became lowly to bear our burdens as a slave of God for us. As a lion, He is the victorious One overcoming Satan on our behalf. As an eagle, He is the transcendent and heavenly One who carries us in order that we may rise above everything. As a dove, He is beautiful and guileless, and as a turtledove, He is lowly and poor. (CWWL, 1984, vol. 1, “The Four Crucial Elements of the Bible—Christ, the Spirit, Life, and the Church,” pp. 146-147)
Today’s Reading
God has never promised us a smooth environment that we may sail smoothly from the earth to heaven and from this age all the way into the kingdom age. Human beings will always have problems. However, the difference between Christians and unbelievers is that we Christians can still rejoice in our afflictions and not be anxious. Actually, it is not that we can rejoice; rather, it is the Spirit in us who rejoices. To have a life that is anxious for nothing but always rejoicing, we need to experience Christ and know the Spirit.We thank the Lord that He has given us the Bible, which is very precious. Its essence and sphere are Christ, and this Christ of whom it speaks eventually became the Spirit.... Romans 8:16 says, “The Spirit Himself witnesses with our spirit.” This means that the Spirit is in us and speaks together with us. Revelation 2:7 says, “The Spirit says to the churches,” and 22:17 says, “The Spirit and the bride say.” The Spirit is the speaking Spirit. Therefore, the Lord Jesus said, “The words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life” (John 6:63). This indicates that the Lord’s words, the Lord’s Spirit, and the Lord Himself are one and can never be separated....We should daily exercise our spirit to pray-read the words of the Lord and take in the rich supply from Him, because His words are spirit and are life....We should not read the Bible with our mind. Whenever we come to the Lord’s word, we should open up our entire being and exercise our spirit to draw from the riches of the Spirit in the Bible. If we pray-read the word of God in this way, every word of the Bible becomes spirit and life to us....The speaking Spirit who dwells in us will lead us through every circumstance to encounter every person, event, and matter and deal with every problem.
Today this speaking Spirit is Christ. To know Christ, we need to earnestly study the six major categories of types in the Old Testament—human beings, animals, plants, minerals, offerings, and foods. These types are very rich....We have already received all these riches in reality. The elements of the reality of all the types are in the Spirit, and the Spirit transfuses and dispenses all these riches into us through the Lord’s words. Therefore, day by day we need to eat the Lord’s words and receive the Spirit’s dispensing. (CWWL, 1984, vol. 1, “The Four Crucial Elements of the Bible—Christ, the Spirit, Life, and the Church,” pp. 159-160)
Further Reading: CWWL, 1984, vol. 1, “The Four Crucial Elements of the Bible—Christ, the Spirit, Life, and the Church,” ch. 4; The Conclusion of the New Testament, msgs. 48-49; Life-study of Ephesians, msg. 30