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Christ, as the preeminent and all-inclusive One, is the allotted portion of the saints—Col. 1:12:
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The allotted portion refers to the lot of the inheritance, as illustrated by the allotment of the good land of Canaan given to the children of Israel for their inheritance—Josh. 14:1.
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The New Testament believers’ allotted portion is not a physical land; it is the all-inclusive Christ as the life-giving Spirit—Col. 2:6-7; Gal. 3:14; 5:16; Rom. 8:4:
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The riches of the good land typify the unsearchable riches of Christ in different aspects as the bountiful supply to His believers in His Spirit—Deut. 8:7-10; Eph. 3:8; Phil. 1:19.
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By enjoying the riches of the land, the believers in Christ are built up to be Christ’s Body as the house of God and the kingdom of God—Eph. 1:22-23; 2:21-22; 1 Tim. 3:15; Matt. 16:18-19; Rom. 14:17.
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Because we are practically joined to Christ as the reality of the good land and are enjoying His riches, God’s eyes are upon us continually, causing us to enjoy God’s presence and making us the object of His care—Deut. 11:12; Rev. 1:14; 5:6; 2 Chron. 16:9; Psa. 32:8.
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The purpose of God’s calling is to bring God’s chosen people into the enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ, typified by the good land flowing with milk and honey—Exo. 3:8; 1 Cor. 1:2, 9:
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Milk and honey, which are the mingling of both the animal life and the vegetable life, are two aspects of the life of Christ—the redeeming aspect and the generating aspect—Deut. 8:8; 26:9; cf. John 1:29; 12:24:
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The redeeming aspect of Christ’s life is for our judicial redemption, and the generating aspect of Christ’s life is for our organic salvation—1:29; 12:24; Rev. 2:7; 22:14; Rom. 5:10.
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The symbols of the Lord’s table signify the redeeming and generating aspects of Christ’s life for God’s complete salvation; thus, the good land has become a table, a feast for our enjoyment—Matt. 26:26-28; 1 Cor. 10:16-17.
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By enjoying Christ as the land of milk and honey, we will be constituted with Him as milk and honey—“Your lips drip fresh honey, my bride; / Honey and milk are under your tongue”—S. S. 4:11a; 1 Pet. 2:2; Psa. 119:103.
Morning Nourishment
Col. 1:12 Giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you for a share of the allotted portion of the saints in the light.Deut. 11:12 It is a land which Jehovah your God cares for; always the eyes of Jehovah your God are upon it, from the beginning of the year even to the end of the year.
[The allotted portion in Colossians 1:12] refers to the lot of the inheritance, as illustrated by the allotment of the good land of Canaan given to the children of Israel for their inheritance (Josh. 14:1). The New Testament believers’ inheritance, their allotted portion, is not a physical land; it is the all-inclusive Christ. He is the allotted portion of the saints as their divine inheritance for their enjoyment. (Col. 1:12, footnote 2)
Because we are practically joined to Christ as the reality of the good land and are enjoying His riches…, God’s eyes are upon us continually, causing us to enjoy God’s presence and making us the object of His care. (Deut. 11:12, footnote 1)
Today’s Reading
The good land is a land flowing with milk and honey. Can you tell to which life the milk and the honey belong? Do they belong to the animal life or to the vegetable life? Notice how the Holy Spirit arranges them in the Word. In Deuteronomy 8:8 the honey is put with the plants: the wheat, the barley, the vines, the fig trees, the pomegranates, the olive trees, and then the honey. And in Deuteronomy 32:14 the milk is put with the animals: the cattle, the flock, the milk, and the butter…. For the most part, honey has to do with the plant life. It is derived mostly from the flowers and the 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. We must have flowers, and we must have bees. These two cooperate; these two lives are mingled together, and honey is produced.What about the milk? We can say that the greater part of milk belongs to the animal life. But indeed it is the product of both the animal life and the vegetable life. If we do not have the pasture, if we do not have the grass, even though we have the cattle and the flock, we cannot have milk and butter. Which is the better food: the milk or all the fruit of the trees—the vine, the fig, the pomegranate, and the olive?… I believe we all realize that milk is better than all the fruit of the vegetable life. Why? Because with both milk and honey, we enjoy the mingling of two kinds of life. You see then that both these items are of the vegetable and of the animal lives.
What is the meaning of this? What aspects of the life of Christ do the milk and the honey portray? When you enjoy Christ as the wheat, the barley, the vine, etc., and at the same time you enjoy Him as the bullock and as the lamb, you will realize that the Lord is so good, that the Lord is so sweet and so rich to you, just as milk and honey. Especially when you are weak in spirit and you come to the Lord to experience and apply Him, you sense that He is the milk and the honey. You sense the riches and the sweetness of the life of Christ— the goodness of milk and the sweetness of honey. Christ is so good. Christ is so sweet. He is a land flowing with milk and honey. This experience is produced from the two aspects of the life of Christ, the generating and the redeeming life. The more you realize Him as the wheat and the barley and so forth, and at the same time as the cattle and the flock, the more you will enjoy Christ as milk and honey.
How rich Christ is to us! We must have such an adequate and full experience of Him…as so many kinds of food. We must enjoy Christ to such an extent that the life within us may be matured. Then there will be a building for the Lord and the warfare with the enemy. (CWWL, 1961-1962, vol. 4, “The All-inclusive Christ,” pp. 247-248)
Further Reading: Life-study of Deuteronomy, msg. 9; CWWL, 1977, vol. 3, “The Ultimate Significance of the Golden Lamp-stand,” ch. 5; CWWN, vol. 23, “The Song of Songs,” pp. 71-72