Scripture Reading: Eph. 3:8, 18; 1:22-23; 2 Cor. 2:10: Exo. 33:14; Psa. 27:4; 46:4-5
Ⅰ
Day by day and hour by hour we need to enjoy the marvelous, wonderful, immeasurable, unlimited, and all-inclusive riches of Christ as the good land—Eph. 3:8:
A
In 2 Corinthians the good land flowing with milk and honey is Christ Himself as the embodiment of the processed Triune God given to us as the divine grace for our enjoyment—1 Cor. 5:7; 10:3-4; 2:14-15; 3:1; cf. 2 Cor. 1:12; 12:9; 13:14:
１
In order to experience the riches of Christ as the good land, we must be dominated, governed, directed, moved, and led by our spirit—2:13.
２
In order to experience the riches of Christ as the good land, we must live in the person, the presence, the face, of Christ—v. 10; 4:6-7; 3:16-18; 12:2a:
ａ
In order to possess Christ as the all-inclusive land, we must be governed by His person, His presence—Exo. 33:14.
ｂ
Because Paul lived in the person of Christ, he experienced Christ as changelessness (2 Cor. 1:17-20), as meekness and gentleness (10:1), as truthfulness (11:10), as power (12:10; 13:4), as grace (13:14), and as the One speaking in him (v. 3; cf. 2:17).
３
We receive Christ as grace, the reality of the good land, through the breaking and constituting work of the Holy Spirit, whereby our inner being is rebuilt with the Divine Trinity—12:7-10; 13:14.
B
At the stage of our experience in which we are enjoying Christ as the all-inclusive land, Christ is unlimitedly great to us; He is a good and spacious land, whose dimensions are the breadth, the length, the height, and the depth—Exo. 3:8; Eph. 3:18:
１
Christ's dimensions are the dimensions of the universe—cf. Col. 1:16-17.
２
To apprehend the dimensions of Christ, we need all the saints.
３
Our experience of Christ must become three-dimensional, like a cube:
ａ
In our experience of Christ we must go back and forth and up and down, so that eventually our experience of Him may be a solid "cube"; when our experience is like this, we cannot fall or be broken.
ｂ
Both in the tabernacle and in the temple, the Holy of Holies was a cube of ten and twenty cubits respectively—Exo. 26:2-8; 1 Kings 6:20.
ｃ
Christ is the universal cube, and the church life today is also a cube.
ｄ
Eventually, the entire New Jerusalem will be the Holy of Holies as an eternal cube, twelve thousand stadia in three dimensions—Rev. 21:16.
Ⅱ
The issue of our enjoyment of the all-inclusive riches of Christ as the good land is the church as the temple, the dwelling place of God, and as the city, the kingdom of God—Eph. 2:21-22:
A
The land with its temple and city is the center of God's plan:
１
The land is Christ Himself, and the temple and the city are the fullness of Christ, the church, which is His Body—1:22-23; 2:21-22.
２
The temple is for the expression of God, and the city is for the dominion of God; this fulfills God's eternal purpose—Gen. 1:26.
B
When we enjoy Christ personally in our daily life for our collective enjoyment of Him in our meeting life, God is among us and we are His dwelling place and His kingdom:
１
When we enjoy Christ to such an extent, the church meeting will be filled with God, and all its activities will convey and transmit God to people that they may be infused with God—1 Cor. 14:25.
２
When we enjoy Christ to such an extent, we will submit to one another, and the authority of Christ will be among us—Eph. 5:18, 21; 1 Pet. 5:5.
C
The main aspects of God's house, His dwelling place for His expression, speak of God's presence:
１
God's house is the place of God's presence, which is God's glory (Psa. 26:8; 29:9), God's beauty (27:4, 8), and God's riches (36:8-9).
２
God's house is the place of revelation and God's answer—73:16-17; 3:4; 18:6.
３
God's house is our hiding place—27:5; cf. 31:20; 84:3.
４
God's house is the place where we may be planted, flourish, and bear fruit—92:13-14.
５
God's house is the place of springs—87:7.
６
God's house is the place where we are strengthened—68:35; 96:6.
７
God's house is the place where we are mingled with God—92:10.
８
God's house is the place where God is our portion—73:26.
D
The main aspects of God's city, His kingdom for His dominion, speak of God's authority:
１
God's city is a strong city, the city of the great King—31:21; 48:2.
２
There is a river with gladdening streams in God's city—46:4-5.
３
God is known in her and is a high retreat in her—48:3.
４
She is a terror to the enemy—vv. 3-6; 76:2-3.
５
She is the perfection of beauty—50:2.
６
She is the goal of God's good pleasure—51:18.
７
The thrones of judgment are set in God's city—122:5.
８
The Lord blesses others out of her and is blessed out of her—134:3; 135:21.
E
The ultimate issue of our enjoyment of Christ as the land is the divine-human incorporation of the processed Triune God with His regenerated, transformed, and glorified tripartite people as the eternal dwelling place and kingdom of God—Rev. 21:3, 22; 22:5.