SUPERIOR TO MOSES AND JOSHUA
The second section of the book, which is mainly chapters three and four, tells us that Christ is far superior to Moses and Joshua. Both Moses and Joshua were sent by God to lead His people, but Christ is superior to both of them. Moses was sent by God as an apostle, and Christ is also sent by God; He is our Apostle, our Leader. As such He is superior to Moses. Moses was God’s house, but Christ was the Builder of the house. As the Builder of the house, Christ has more glory than the house itself.
Moses, however, did not bring God’s people into the rest. Rather, Joshua brought the people into the rest. Of course, Joshua is the Hebrew name for Jesus. Joshua was a type of Christ who brought the people into the good land. Eventually, both Joshua and the good land are just Christ. Christ as the rest becomes the kingdom.
However, Joshua did not bring the people into the good land by himself. He had a partner whose name was Caleb. According to Hebrews 3:14 we are the Calebs to Christ. We are His partners and companions. The Greek word used here not only means partakers but also partners. Joshua had only one partner, Caleb, but today Christ has many partners. All the members of His Body are His partners. We are partners with Christ in a great corporation. Although the Hebrew Christians had been made partners with Christ, there was the danger that they might be distracted and not enter into the good land. All of the people of Israel should have been partners with Joshua, but only one actually went into the good land with Joshua, and that was Caleb. If we are distracted from the enjoyment of Christ, we will no longer be His partners, and we will miss the reward of the manifestation of the kingdom.
Enjoying Christ in Our Spirit
Hebrews 3 and 4 indicate that our progress is in three stages: first we come out of Egypt, then we pass through the wilderness, and finally we enter into the good land. When we arrive in the good land we are in the rest. Eventually, that will be the kingdom. These three stages—Egypt, the wilderness, and the good land—correspond to the three parts of our entire being. Our body corresponds to Egypt; our soul corresponds to the wilderness; and our spirit, with Christ in it, corresponds to the good land. Before we were saved we were in Egypt. Once we were saved we began to wander in the wilderness of the soul. If we will forget about our soul and take care of our spirit, we will enjoy Christ in our spirit as the good land. There we will enjoy Christ as our rest. As we enjoy Him in our spirit, this enjoyment will become the kingdom.
Hebrews 4:12 is very strategic at this point. Verse 11 says that we need to be diligent to enter into the rest, and verse 12 tells us how we may enter into the rest. The way to enter into the rest is to have our spirit discerned and divided from our soul. Today’s good land is Christ in our spirit. If we remain in our minds, this means we are wandering in the wilderness. We must get out of our mind, out of our soul, and into our spirit where Christ is our rest. This rest eventually becomes the kingdom. We should not be in Egypt or in the wilderness. We all must be in the good land, that is, with Christ in our spirit. This means we should not simply live in our physical body according to the flesh, nor should we live according to our soul. Praise the Lord! There is the possibility for us to get out of our soul and into our spirit. When we get into our spirit, Christ is there. We experience the good land, and we have the rest. We all have experienced that when we were wandering in our soul we had no rest. But once we turned to our spirit, we immediately entered into the rest. In the rest we enjoyed all the riches of the good land. Eventually, the temple will be built and the city will be raised up. The kingdom will be established and God’s glory will fill the house. This is the ultimate consummation of the enjoyment of Christ.
The danger is ever present that we would be frustrated and distracted away from Christ. Some wind of doctrine may take us away from the enjoyment of Christ. That danger was present with the Hebrew believers, and it is also present with us today. We may be distracted from turning to our spirit to enjoy Christ as our rest. It is in our spirit that we have the full enjoyment of Christ. Many things today can be a distraction from the full enjoyment of Christ. Only when we have the full enjoyment of Christ is there the possibility of having the kingdom. The full enjoyment of Christ will consummate in the kingdom.
(The Kingdom, Chapter 45, by Witness Lee)
