Due to the fact that Abraham was short of faith in believing God concerning the promise of the land, God entered into a covenant with him to strengthen his faith. He instructed Abraham to get three cattle and two birds and slaughter / cut the cattle but leave the birds alive.
Whenever someone offered something to God in the Old Testament, he had to lay his hands on the sacrificial animal, signifying that he is identified with that animal. Christ is the reality of all the offerings, and He was crucified and resurrected to meet all of God’s requirements.
Abraham offered the cattle to God as a sacrifice, and they typify the crucified Christ who was cut on the cross by God. Abraham also kept the birds alive, and they typify the resurrected Christ.
By entering into a covenant with Abraham, on the one hand God Himself took all the responsibility that He will fulfill the promise of giving the land to Abraham and to his seed, and on the other hand Abraham was identified with the cut animals and with the living birds.
Today we as believers in Christ offer Christ to God and we lay our hands on Him. As Romans 6:5 and 7 tell us, we have been identified with Christ in His death and we are also living with Him in His resurrection.
We need to see the spiritual facts, the real things: we have been identified with the crucified and resurrected Christ!
We have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer us who live – it is Christ who lives in us! And the life which we now live in the flesh we live in oneness with the resurrected Christ, the One who passed through death and entered into resurrection because He loved us (Gal. 2:20).
The only way we can enter into the church life as the good land today is by being identified with the crucified and resurrected Christ.
When we are one with the crucified and resurrected Christ, we are one with all the brothers and the sisters, we enter into the possession of the good land, we labor on Christ as the good land, we apprehend with all the saints what the dimensions of Christ are, and we build God’s habitation in spirit.
Being Identified with Christ in His Death and Resurrection
When Christ died on the cross, on the one hand, He died as the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world (John 1:29). We are not qualified to die with Christ as the Lamb of God, but we have been crucified with Him to die to the self, terminate the old man and the old creation, and judge the devil.
When Abraham offered the cattle and the birds to God, in his realization and in God’s eyes he actually was identified with these cattle and birds (Gen. 15:9-10).
In order to fulfill God’s eternal purpose, we need to be identified with Christ in His crucifixion and in His resurrection. By faith in Christ, we were crucified with Christ and we were resurrected with Him, and today we need to live a life of being in Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection constantly (see Rom. 6:5, 8; Gal. 2:20).
In ourselves and by ourselves we cannot enter into the good land or take possession of the good land, but through being identified with Christ in His death and resurrection, the good land is ours and we can fulfill God’s purpose.
We need to know the divine facts and apply them to our daily living. Don’t lean on your experience, don’t trust your feelings, and don’t rely on what you understand from what is happening today.
Trust and rely only on the divine facts in the new covenant which God created in Christ Jesus. Apply the covenant, appropriate the new testament, and you will enjoy the good land!
The Bible both portrays and clearly says that we have been crucified with Christ and now we are one with Him in His resurrection – we believe this fact and we stand on the divine facts!
Living the Church Life One with Christ in His Death and Resurrection
In our natural man it is impossible to have the church life as the practicality of the good land today. It is only in our spirit and by being identified with Christ in His death and resurrection that we can live the church life today.
In the church life we are all from different backgrounds, having different dispositions and cultures, and being so different from one another. In the natural man it is impossible for us to be one with others.
But when we are one with Christ in His death, our natural preferences and our disposition is crucified with Him, and our inner man is resurrected with Christ. When we are in our spirit and live one with Christ in His death and resurrection, we are one with one another spontaneously.
We need to see that we have been terminated in Christ’s crucifixion and we have been germinated in His resurrection. Now we live a life not by ourselves or by any standard of ethics, morality, religion, or good behavior, but by the resurrected Christ who lives within us.
Only Christ living in us can enable us to live the church life. Only by being identified with Christ in His death and resurrection can we enter into the possession of the good land together with all the saints.
The reason many believers don’t know Christ and the church as the good land is because they don’t live in the oneness with the crucified and resurrected Christ in their daily living.
Our testimony should be like the Apostle Paul’s in Gal. 2:20, I am crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. We lay our hands on Christ, our sin offering, our peace offering, and our burnt offering, and we offer Christ to God as the crucified One.
Also, this Christ we are identified with is in resurrection to be our life. Now we offer Christ to God, are identified with Him, and are one with Him in our living every day.
By living in this identification with Christ in His death and resurrection, God can have a seed (Christ in us) and a land (us living in Christ) for the fulfillment of His eternal purpose. Christ in us and Christ as the good land in which we live fulfills the eternal purpose of God.
Lord Jesus, keep us living one spirit with You today. In our natural man we cannot get into the good land and we cannot live the church life. Lord, we lay our hands on You, the crucified One – we want to be one with You in Your crucifixion that our natural man would be put to death and the self would be denied. Lord, we are one with You in Your resurrection to live a life in the new creation, a life one with You. We are crucified with Christ and it is no longer us who live – but it is Christ who lives in us! Lord, keep us one with You in Your death and resurrection for the full enjoyment and participation in the good land that we may fulfill Your purpose!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Andrew Yu’s sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Genesis (msg. 45), as quoted in, as quoted in, the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Genesis (2), week 4 / msg 4, The Land for the Fulfillment of God’s Purpose.
- Hymns on this topic:
# It’s no longer I that liveth, / But Christ that liveth in me. / It’s no longer I that liveth, / But Christ that liveth in me. / He lives, He lives, / Jesus is alive in me! / It’s no longer I that liveth, / But Christ that liveth in me. (new song on Gal. 2:20)
# Oh, what a life! Oh, what a peace! / The Christ who’s all within me lives. / With Him I have been crucified; / This glorious fact to me He gives. / Now it’s no longer I that live, / But Christ the Lord within me lives. (Hymns #499 by W. Lee)
# Oh what a joy! Christ now lives in us; / No longer I—how glorious! / He’s daily growing within us / Till He is formed in us. / We live and walk by the Spirit, / Enjoy the fruit of the Spirit; / To Him our whole lives we commit; / All else is vanity. (new song on Christ living in us)
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