2014 Memorial Day Conference - The Heavenly Vision Week 2 - The Vision of Christ Day 4 - Morning Nourishment John 14:6 Jesus said to him, I am the way and the reality and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me. 6:63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. There are six major categories of types in the Old Testament. The first category is human beings; the second, animals; the third, plants; the fourth, minerals; the fifth, offerings; and the sixth, foods. All these six major categories contain types of Christ. Some examples from the category of human beings are Adam, typifying Christ as the Head of the human race; Isaac, typifying Christ as the seed of Abraham; and Solomon, the son of David, typifying Christ as the seed of David. Christ is not only the Head of the human race but also the seed of man and the seed of woman. He is the King, the Priest, and the Prophet. As the King, He is typified by Judah and David; as the Priest, He is typified by Melchizedek and Aaron; and as the Prophet, He is typified by Isaiah and Jonah. Hence, to understand all the portrayals of Christ in the aspect of human beings, we have to study Adam, Abraham, David, Solomon, Melchizedek, Aaron, Isaiah, Jonah, and others. (The Four Crucial Elements of the Bible—Christ, the Spirit, Life, and the Church, pp. 52-53) Today’s Reading Now we come to the category of animals....As a lamb, [Christ] became an offering to deal with our sins for our redemption. As an ox, He was not only made an offering but also became lowly to bear our burdens as a slave of God for us. As a lion, He is the victorious One overcoming Satan on our behalf. As an eagle, He is the transcendent and heavenly One who carries us that we may rise above everything. As a dove, He is beautiful and guileless, and as a turtledove, He is lowly and poor. Among the plants, there are even more types concerning Christ. The Lord said that He is the true vine (John 15:1). There is only one vine in the universe that is true, and this true vine is Christ. Song of Songs 2:3 says that He is the apple tree. Moreover, the Old Testament tells us that the different parts of a tree are also types of Christ: Christ is the root (Isa. 11:10; Rev. 5:5), the stem, and the stump; He is also the branch (Isa. 11:1) and the fruit (4:2; Rev. 22:2). Furthermore, the New Testament tells us that He is the fruit of Mary’s womb (Luke 1:42). The most mysterious thing is that Christ is the tree itself. He is the unique tree of life in the universe. He is also the acacia wood, which signifies that His humanity is noble and strong in quality and lofty and superior in standard. Whenever we come to the Lord’s word, we should open up our entire being and exercise our spirit to draw from the riches of the Spirit in the Bible. If we pray-read the word of God in this way, every word of the Bible becomes spirit and life to us. Then we can realize that the Spirit is definitely speaking in us. The speaking Spirit who dwells in us will lead us through every circumstance to encounter every person, event, and matter and deal with every problem....Today this speaking Spirit is Christ. To know Christ, we need to earnestly study the six major categories of types in the Old Testament—human beings, animals, plants, minerals, offerings, and foods. These types are very rich. How blessed we are today!...The elements of the reality of all the types are in the Spirit, and the Spirit transfuses and dispenses all these riches into us through the Lord’s words. Therefore, day by day we need to eat the Lord’s words and receive the Spirit’s dispensing. This is like breathing, drinking, and eating, which are things that we do, not once for all but day by day and moment by moment. Furthermore, we also need to exercise our spirit and release our spirit before the Lord regularly for our cooperation with the Lord. Thus, our spiritual life will be healthy and will continually grow in a normal way. (The Four Crucial Elements of the Bible— Christ, the Spirit, Life, and the Church, pp. 53-54, 67-68) Further Reading: The Four Crucial Elements of the Bible—Christ, the Spirit, Life, and the Church, ch. 4; The Conclusion of the New Testament, msgs. 48-49 © 2014 Living Stream Ministry. All rights reserved.
Posted on: Thu, 03 Jul 2014 00:02:25 +0000
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