Scripture Reading: Exo. 12:1-14; 16:4, 13-15, 31; Josh. 5:11-12
Ⅰ
In their experience of God's salvation, the people of Israel, typifying the church, passed through three stages of the enjoyment of Christ by eating Him—Exo. 12:1-14; 16:4, 13-15, 31; Josh. 5:11-12:
A
In the first stage the people of Israel ate the passover lamb in Egypt, which strengthened them to walk out of Egypt and to be separated from the Egyptian world—Exo. 12:1-14:
１
The flesh of the passover lamb was to be eaten for life supply—vv. 8-9:
ａ
The flesh of the lamb signifies the crucified and resurrected life of Christ as the supply for God's redeemed people—vv. 8-9; John 6:53, 55.
ｂ
Through Christ's incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection, His flesh has become the food of God's redeemed people—v. 57.
２
By the blood of the Lamb we are redeemed from God's judgment, and by the life of the Lamb we are strengthened and energized to escape from Egypt— Exo. 12:7-13.
３
The proper way to eat the passover lamb was "roasted with fire" (v. 8); to eat Christ "roasted with fire" is to believe that on the cross He suffered for us under God's holy wrath exercised in His judgment, as signified by the fire.
４
The people of Israel ate the lamb's "head with its legs and with its inward parts"—v. 9:
ａ
The head signifies wisdom, the legs signify activity and move, and the in-ward parts signify the inward parts of Christ's being, including His mind, emotion, will, and heart with all their functions.
ｂ
Eating the passover lamb with the head, legs, and inward parts signifies taking Christ in His entirety, in His wisdom, activities, move, and inward parts—John 6:57; 1 Cor. 1:24; Rev. 14:4b; Phil. 1:8.
B
In the second stage the people of Israel ate the manna in the wilderness, which reconstituted them with a heavenly element to be a heavenly people—Exo. 16:4, 13-15, 31:
１
Manna is a type of Christ as the heavenly food that enables God's people to go His way—John 6:31-35, 48-51, 57-58:
ａ
According to God's economy, Christ should be the unique diet, the only food, strength, satisfaction, and sustenance, of God's people, and they should live by Him alone—Num. 11:6; John 6:57.
ｂ
In order to be food to us, Christ was incarnated, crucified, and resurrected to become the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit to indwell our spirit—v. 63.
２
The characteristics of manna portray the characteristics of Christ as the heavenly food for God's people—Exo. 16:14, 31; Num. 11:7-8.
３
As our manna, Christ is actually the tree of life:
ａ
In Exodus 16 and John 6 the tree of life appears by the name of manna.
ｂ
In the Bible manna and the tree of life are interchangeable:
⑴
This indicates that the manna in Exodus 16 was the tree of life in Genesis 2 and that the manna in John 6 will be the tree of life in Rev-elation 22.
⑵
Manna and the tree of life are different terms to describe the same thing.
ｃ
God does not have two different kinds of food for His chosen and redeemed people; because there is one God, there is also just one kind of food.
ｄ
Christ is our tree of life and our manna for eternity—vv. 1-2, 14.
C
In the third stage the people of Israel ate the rich produce in the good land— Josh. 5:11-12:
１
The good land enjoyed by the children of Israel is the ultimate type of Christ found in the Scriptures; it is a complete and all-inclusive type of Christ—Deut. 8:7-10; Col. 1:12.
２
Christ is not only our life; He is also our territory, our realm, our sphere, in which we walk—3:4; 2:6.
３
The good land typifies the all-inclusive Christ as the inheritance to God's peo-ple for their enjoyment, and the riches of the good land typify the unsearch-able riches of Christ in various aspects—Deut. 8:7-10; Eph. 3:8.
Ⅱ
These three stages of eating typify the three stages of the believers' enjoy-ment of Christ by eating Him—1 Cor. 5:7-8; 10:3-4; Phil. 1:19:
A
By their eating in the first two stages, the believers are energized to leave the world and are constituted with Christ as the heavenly element—John 6:51-57; 1 Cor. 5:7-8; 10:3-4.
B
To reach the goal of God's economy, the believers need to progress until they enter into the highest stage of eating Christ as the rich produce of the good land, the all-inclusive Spirit, so that they may overcome the spiritual enemies, be built up to be God's dwelling place, and establish God's kingdom on earth— Phil. 1:19; Gal. 3:14.
C
As we eat Christ and enjoy Him as the produce of the good land, we are con-stituted with Him, being made the same as Christ in life, nature, and expres-sion, for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ, the new man, and the kingdom of God—Josh. 5:11-12; Phil. 1:19-21a; Col. 1:13, 18; 3:10-11.