«　WEEK 2　DAY 2　»

　　Deut. 8:7-9 For Jehovah your God is bringing you to a good land, a land of waterbrooks, of springs and of fountains…; a land of wheat and barley and vines and fig trees and pomegranates; a land of olive trees with oil and of honey; a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity;…a land whose stones are iron, and from whose mountains you can mine copper.

　　The good land, the land of Canaan (Deut. 8:7-10), is a type of the all-inclusive Christ, the Christ who is all and in all and who is everything to us. The passover, the manna, the tabernacle with its furniture, and all the offerings are types depicting various aspects of Christ…. [However], no type other than the good land shows that Christ is the all-inclusive One. Therefore, the good land is the ultimate type of Christ found in the Scriptures. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 466-467)

　　In the Bible the land is a figure, a symbol, of Christ. The land that came out of the death water on the third day (Gen. 1:9-10, 13) is a type of the resurrected Christ who came out of death on the third day. Many different kinds of life, including vegetable, animal, and human life, then came out of the land (Gen. 1:11-12, 24-25). This signifies that Christ is the source of all kinds of life….God’s intention revealed in the Scriptures is that Christ should be our land. Christ as the good land, the land that came out of the death water, the land that was elevated above and surrounded by the death water, is depicted by the land of Canaan. This land is the crucial focus of the Old Testament. For this reason the Lord speaks of the land again and again. He called out Abraham and told him that He would bring him into a certain land, the land of Canaan (Gen. 12:1). The center of God’s plan, speaking according to type, is the good land with its temple and city.

　　The good land provided whatever the children of Israel needed…. All these items, most of which are mentioned in Deuteronomy 8:7-10, are types of Christ. He is the water that springs from valleys and hills. He is the wheat, which signifies the incarnated and crucified Christ, and the barley, which signifies the resurrected Christ. The vine typifies Christ as the sacrificing One who cheers God and man; the fig tree, the sweetness and satisfaction of Christ as our life supply; the pomegranate, the abundance and beauty of the life of Christ; the olive tree, Christ as the man filled with the Spirit and anointed with the Spirit as the oil of exultant joy; the animal life, Christ with His redeeming life; milk and honey, Christ in His richness and sweetness; stones, iron, and copper, Christ as the materials for building and fighting. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 467-468)

　　John 12:24 shows us that the Lord is the one grain of wheat that fell into the ground and died and was buried. Hence, the wheat represents the Christ who was incarnated to be a man and who fell into the ground to die and be buried. It typifies the Christ who was incarnated, the Christ who died, and the Christ who was buried.

　　Barley denotes Christ’s resurrection and typifies the resurrected Christ. In the land of Canaan barley is the first among the grains to ripen. In Leviticus 23 the Lord charged the Israelites that when the harvest time came, the firstfruits of the harvest had to be offered to God, and the firstfruits were clearly barley. First Corinthians 15:20 says, “But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” This clearly indicates that the firstfruits of the harvest typify Christ as the firstfruits of resurrection. Hence, barley typifies the resurrected Christ. The barley loaves with which the Lord fed the five thousand (John 6:9) typify Christ in His resurrection as the life supply to His believers. (Truth Lessons—Level Three, vol. 1, p. 45)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Exodus, msg. 153; The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 44