As the semester comes to a close and the stress of finishing papers and preparing for finals sets in, anxiety seems to be inevitable. In the midst of my busy days, I have realized that I need to remind myself to turn to the Lord and remain in contact with Him. In my struggle to find God in my schedule, a staff member with Christian Students on Campus recommended to me a book called, The All-Inclusive Christ. The book examines the good land of Canaan depicted in the Old Testament and relates many aspects of the land to attributes of Christ. Through reading small portions of this book each day, I have been able to experience God’s peace and love in the most stressful moments.
Christ is the Good Land
The first thing I realized when I started reading this book is that Christ is the good land and we can enter into Him in all circumstances. A typical daily routine involves activities such as eating, drinking, getting ready, and resting. While these things might seem like mundane occurrences, they are actually representations of the reality found in Jesus Christ (Col. 2:16-17). This truth reveals the all-inclusiveness of Christ. As we eat, we can acknowledge that Christ is the real food that satisfies us. As we walk to class, we can realize that Christ is our true path. Through seeing the Lord depicted as the reality of everything, I am continually reminded that He can be applied to any situation. God made this land available to us; now, we must take possession of it by entering in and enjoying its riches.
Spacious
Referring to this land as “good” is empty if we don’t understand the specific aspects that constitute the land as “good”. An essential quality of this land is that it is spacious. The limitless measurement of Christ is revealed in the picture of a spacious land (Eph. 3:18). Naturally, we have limitations and our capacity eventually becomes exhausted. However, applying the spaciousness of the land to our situation brings us into the realm of Christ’s unlimited capacities. When I run out of patience or hope, I enter into this spacious land to receive the Lord’s unlimited supply.
Ascendant
Another aspect of this land is its ascendancy. The high and mountainous landscape described in Deuteronomy and Ezekiel typify the resurrected Christ. When we live in Christ, we experience Him in ascension and He becomes this high land to us. All of our temporary situations can be overcome when we apply Christ’s resurrection and position ourselves in His ascendancy (Eph. 2:6). Even though this is a wonderful truth, I find myself losing sight of Christ’s ascendancy in moments of anger or despair. Despite these barriers, I am learning to use my hardships as opportunities to apply and enjoy the ascended Christ.
Unsearchable
This spacious and high land also includes unsearchable riches found in the forms of water and food. These different elements show that Christ’s life can supply us in various ways. Deuteronomy 11:11 describes the water in the land and its flowing forth from the valleys and the hills. While a flat land cannot produce a flow of water, valleys and hills enable this process to occur. In our experience, the times we feel joyful bring us to a hill while sorrowful circumstances place us in a valley. Even though we would rather stay on the hill, God specifically ordains this cycle so that we would seek Him. The more we remain in this process of hills and valleys, valleys and hills, the more the living water has a way to flow to us and through us.
Unlimited
The Lord is also signified by various types of food in the land, which reveal crucial aspects of who He is and how we can experience Him. The examples of wheat and barley typify our experiences of His death and resurrection. Jesus was limited by His position as a carpenter for more than thirty years when He lived on the earth. We can experience the Lord as a grain of wheat when we recognize the limitations He faced and become willing to be limited. After we have an experience of the Lord as wheat, we can experience Him as barley, which symbolizes His resurrection. While Christ in the flesh is limited, Christ in resurrection is unlimited and released. This type of experience is depicted through Jesus feeding the five thousand with five small loaves of barley. If we would just possess some of the resurrected Christ, the Lord will provide a surplus and will give us a way to feed others (John 6:1-14).
Learn to Live in the Land
Despite my jam-packed days and constant fatigue from late night studying, I am so glad I have taken time to read small portions of this book each day. Reversing my habit of dwelling on the negatives when I get overwhelmed and turning to the Lord and His word have sustained me these past few weeks. While it is definitely a learning process, I am gradually understanding how to live a life in the good land of Christ.
As therefore you have received the Christ, Jesus the Lord, walk in Him. –Col. 2:6
By: M. Cannizzo
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Amen!!! Christ is our wonderful good land. Our laboring on the land is simply to walk in Him, and our walk in Him is just a matter of receiving!! We just continue to receive Him in all His aspects. I especially enjoyed the point on receiving Him as both the limited grain of wheat and the unlimited barley. When we learn to accept the limitations that the Lord places us in, actually we experience the unlimited Christ!!