The created things reveal and declare the attributes and glory of the invisible God (Rom. 1:20), and God in Christ is universally vast and untraceably rich.
The whole universe with the billions of things and persons in it was created for the purpose of describing Christ (Col. 1:15-17). Christ is all-inclusive, and He is the reality of all the positive things in the universe.
When He was on the earth, Christ took every opportunity to reveal Himself to His disciples as the reality of all the positive things around them. He told them that He is the true vine (John 15), the shepherd, the door, the pasture (John 10), the ladder joining earth to heaven and bringing heaven to earth (John 1:51), the grain of wheat falling into the ground to die and produce many believers in His resurrection (John 12:24), the real Jonah, the real Solomon, etc.
The Bible shows us that many things and persons are a type of Christ, who is the reality of all the positive things in the universe.
In the Old Testament we see at least six major categories of types of Christ – human beings, animals, plants, minerals, offerings, and foods. Many positive human beings spoken of in the Old Testament point to Christ as their reality. Many animals with their functions are a type of Christ, who is so rich in all His being.
Plants and minerals also are types of Christ, whose attributes are so bountifully rich. All the offerings ordained by God for His people to bring Him are types of the all-inclusive Christ. Also, many kinds of foods and fruits are types of Christ, the real nourishing One.
The way we can enjoy Christ as the reality of all the positive things in the universe is by pray-reading the word of God to receive Spirit and life (John 6:63). The all-inclusive Christ today is the bountiful life-giving Spirit, and this Spirit guides us into the reality of all that Christ is as we pray over God’s word with the exercise of our spirit.
Let us now review some of the riches of the all-inclusive Christ as unveiled in all the types in the Old Testament.
Christ is Typified by Adam, Melchizedek, Isaac, Jonah, and Solomon
Out of the many men spoken of in the Old Testament, Christ is the reality of all the positive ones. Men such as Adam, Abel, Enosh, Enoch, Noah, Melchizedek, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Aaron, Moses, David, Jonah, Solomon, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, etc all typify Christ, the real man fulfilling God’s purpose.
- Adam typifies Christ (see Rom. 5:14). Adam is the head of the created human race in the old creation, but he is just a type of Christ as the Head of the human race. Christ is the firstborn of all creation, and He is the Head of the old and the new creation. Christ is the real Adam, the real man.
- Melchizedek typifies Christ (Heb. 7:1) as the real High Priest of the Most High God. As the real Melchizedek, Christ has no genealogy, is eternal, comes in to bless us, and ministers God into us as bread and wine. Christ is the real King, the High Priest, and the Prophet, and He dispenses the riches of God into us as food and drink.
- Isaac typifies Christ (Matt. 1:1) as the real seed of Abraham, the One in whom all the nations are blessed. Christ is the seed of Abraham, the real Isaac, the One in whom and through whom all the nations on earth are blessed throughout all the ages. He was sacrificed by God the Father on the cross and was received multiplied in resurrection.
- Jonah is a type of Christ (Matt. 12:41) as the One who died and rose after three days, becoming a sign to all the people. What Jonah went through was a type of Christ, the real Jonah who willingly went to death, stayed in Hades for three days and three nights, resurrected, and preached the gospel to all the nations for the bringing in of the kingdom of God.
- Solomon is a type of Christ (Matt. 12:42) as the real son of David who speaks words of wisdom and builds up the temple of God. As the real Solomon and as One greater than Solomon, Christ speaks the words of wisdom (apart from the words of Christ there is NO wisdom) and He builds up the real temple of God, the church of God, the Body of Christ (Matt. 16:18).
Christ is Typified by a Lamb, a Lion, an Ox, an Eagle, and a Gazelle
Not only human beings typify Christ but also many animals typify Him as the reality of all the positive things. If we pray over God’s word and have His light shining on us in spirit we will see how rich in meaning it is for Christ to be typified by a turtle-dove, a lamb, an ox, a dove, a ram, a lion, an eagle, and a gazelle.
- Christ is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29). Christ is the real lamb, spotless and pure, the only One qualified before God to be offered for our sins and obtain redemption for us.
- Christ is typified by an ox (Ezek. 1:10), the One who became lowly and bore our burdens as a slave of God for us. He is the real ox, willing to humble Himself and put us on Him as a burden to carry us on, and He serves us as a slave.
- Christ is the Lion from the tribe of Judah (Ezek. 1:10; Rev. 5:5), the One who defeats the devil and crushes Satan under the feed of the Body. Christ is the overcoming One, the victorious One, the One who chases the enemy away.
- Christ is the real eagle bearing us on His wings (Ezek. 1:10; Rev. 4:7). He is the transcendent and heavenly One, soaring above all the problems and seeing things from God’s view. As an eagle, Christ carries us that we may rise above everything.
- Christ is typified by a gazelle (Song of Songs 2:9). He is like a gazelle and a young hart, leaping over any barriers, skipping on the hills, always in resurrection and ascension. He calls us to Himself to be one with Him in resurrection.
Christ is Typified by the Vine Tree, the Apple Tree, the Fig Tree, etc
Many trees and plants in the Old and New Testament typify Christ, the One who is all-inclusive and who is the reality of all the positive things in the universe. He Himself said that He is the vine tree and He is the life, and this means He’s the tree of life (Gen. 2:9). He is the real tree and apart from Him there is no tree. What a rich One, so all-inclusive and wonderful!
- Christ is the true vine (John 15:1) and we are the branches in the vine. There is only one vine in the universe that is true, and this vine is Christ.
- Christ is the apple tree (Song of Songs 2:3), the One who is so rich, so sweet, so fresh, so nourishing, and so lovely.
- 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). He is the tree itself, the unique tree in the universe.
- Christ is the real fig tree, the pomegranate tree, and the olive tree (see Deut. 8:8) for the nourishment and supply of God’s people and for bringing forth oil to anoint God and man.
- Christ’s humanity is typified by the acacia wood (used everywhere in the building of the ark and the tabernacle). His humanity is noble, strong in quality, lofty, and superior in standard.
Christ is Typified by Gold, Silver, Copper, Iron, and all kinds of Stones
As the all-inclusive One, Christ is typified by many minerals such as gold, silver, copper, iron, and all kinds of stones. As such minerals and stones, Christ is everything for God’s building.
- Christ is the real gold, having the divine nature of God constituted into Him. When you have Christ, you have the real precious gold.
- Christ is typified by silver; He redeemed us by paying the highest price for us, and now we can build up the church with Christ Himself as the real silver (1 Cor. 3:12; Deut. 8:9).
- Christ is the real copper and iron, strong minerals used for ruling and breaking (see Deut. 8:13). He needs to be “dug out” from the mountains in the good land so that we may enjoy Him as such a One.
- Christ is the stone for God’s building: He is the living stone (1 Pet. 2:4), the rock (1 Cor. 10:4), the cornerstone (Matt. 21:42), the topstone (Zech. 4:7), the foundation stone (1 Cor. 3:11), and precious stone (v. 12).
Christ is the Reality of All the Offerings
All the offerings ordained by God in Lev. 1-7 are types of Christ in all that He is and has done for us. Christ is the real sin offering, burnt offering, meal offering, peace-offering, trespass offering, wave offering, heave offering, and drink offering (see Lev. 1—7; Exo. 29:26-28; Num. 28:7-10; cf. John 4:24).
He is the reality of all the offerings and He actually replaces all the offerings with Himself; now we need to worship God in spirit and with Christ as the reality of all the offerings.
- Christ is our sin offering: He took away the sin of the world, and when we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us of our sin and cleanse us from any unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).
- Christ is our trespass offering: He deals with all our trespasses, all the things we do here and there without being one with Christ. We can repent and confess, and He becomes the trespass offering to us.
- Christ is our burnt offering: He is the only absolute One, and He burns for God all the time to bring Him satisfaction. We can lay our hands on Him, be identified with Him, and take Him as our burnt offering to be absolute for God so that He may be satisfied.
- Christ is our meal offering: His humanity is perfect and acceptable to God, fine flour mingled with oil. We don’t seek to imitate Him but we eat Him and we become like Him, taking Him as our meal offering.
- Christ is our peace-offering: without Christ we have no peace with God or with others, but when we take Christ as our peace-offering, we have peace, God is on the throne, and Satan is crushed under our feet.
- Christ is our heave offering: He has been resurrected and ascended, far above death of any kind. We can take Christ as our heave offering and we will be in ascension, not being touched by death.
- Christ is our drink offering: He has been poured out for us to drink and be cheerful and for God to be satisfied. He makes God and man happy. When we enjoy Him as the drink offering we enjoy God and become a joy to both God and man.
Christ is Typified by Bread, Wheat, Barley, Grapes, Figs, Pomegranates, olives, Milk, and Honey
The all-inclusive Christ as the reality of all the positive things in the universe is typified by many kinds of foods, such as bread, wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives, milk, and honey (see John 6:35; Deut. 8:8-9; 26:9). If you read Deuteronomy 8 with the glasses of God’s economy on, you will enjoy how rich our Christ is.
He is our real food – and He is food to us in a detailed, sweet, and aromatic way. He’s the bread of life, the grain of wheat, the barley in resurrection, the grapes to produce wine, the figs and pomegranates, the olives to produce oil, the nourishing milk in the word, and as sweet as honey to our taste. What a Christ!
The All-Inclusive Christ is Made Real to us by the Spirit
Col. 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to God.
How can we enjoy the all-inclusive Christ today? The Spirit of reality makes all that Christ is, has, and has done real to us; He guides us in all the reality of all the riches of Christ (see John 14:6; 1 John 5:6; John 14:17; 16:13).
Christ wants to be real to us in all the details of our daily living, so that we may enjoy Him any time and anywhere. And the best way to enjoy the riches of the all-inclusive Christ is to pray-read the word of God.
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. (The Four Crucial Elements of the Bible— Christ, the Spirit, Life, and the Church, pp. 67-68)
In order for us to enjoy and experience the riches of the all-inclusive Christ we need to exercise our spirit and pray-read the word of God, eating Christ in His word. Day by day we need to eat the Lord’s words and enjoy His riches through His word, mixing the word of God with our faith and our prayer through the exercise of our spirit.
We need to let the word of Christ dwell in us richly, taking it into us by means of the exercise of our spirit (Col. 3:16; Eph. 6:17). When we exercise our spirit to pray over the word of God, the Spirit of reality is guiding us into all the reality of what Christ is, making the untraceable riches of Christ real to us.
It is our turn now: we need to enjoy this all-inclusive Christ as the reality of all the positive things in the universe by taking Him as the reality of all things in our life and by pray-reading the word of God, allowing the Spirit of reality to impart, dispense, and infuse all the riches of Christ into our being.
Lord Jesus, we open our entire being as we come to Your word. We exercise our spirit as we read the Bible so that we may draw the riches of the Spirit. We open to You in spirit to be guided by the Spirit in all the reality of the riches of Christ. You are so rich, so wonderful, so all-inclusive, and so bountiful. Lord Jesus Christ, keep us enjoying all Your riches by taking You as the reality of all the things in our daily life and by pray-reading the word of God through the exercise of our spirit! Be so real to us in all the details of our daily life!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Dick Taylor’s sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, The Four Crucial Elements of the Bible — Christ, the Spirit, Life, and the Church (ch. 4), as quoted in, the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Heavenly Vision, week 2 / msg 2, The Vision of Christ.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Lord, how we bless Thee for this land, / The all-inclusive Christ! / We’ve eaten Him, we’re filled with Him, / O how He has sufficed! / Teach us to labor constantly / Upon this vast reality; / This is our joy, this our employ— / Christ our land! (Hymns #1164)
# Let the word of Christ dwell in you / Richly, in all wisdom / Teaching and admonishing one another / In psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, / Singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord / And whatever you do, in word or in work / Do all in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, / Do all in the name of our Lord. (Song on Col. 3:16)
# Jesus is the living Spirit / And the living Word; / When we touch Him by pray-reading / We receive this Lord. (Hymns #1142)
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