The Good Land Typifies the All-inclusive Christ and the Aerial Part of Satan’s Kingdom

The book of Joshua is a book with profound types, and in particular, the taking of the land signifies the church as a corporate warrior fighting the spiritual warfare for the enjoyment and experience of the all-inclusive Christ with His unsearchable riches as the good land.

This week in our crystallization study of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth, we are still on the book of Joshua, and our focus this week is, Possessing the Land of Canaan by Defeating the Satanic Forces.

When we study the book of Joshua in a deeper way, we shouldn’t necessarily get more excited and stirred up, or even inspired momentarily, because “we need to take the land” and “we need to fight the warfare”.

What the Lord wants to gain is not a group of people who are merely inspired and stirred up but some who cooperate with Him to enter into the enjoyment and experience of the all-inclusive Christ as the reality of the good land.

So we may see something related to our personal Christian life, something related to our personal life with the Lord, and something related to our church life, but we need to have a broad view.

We need to see a broad view that includes a detailed understanding of the land of Canaan, and at the same time we need to realize the necessity of warfare, for possessing the good land requires ongoing warfare.

Finally, we want to see some of the vital factors of victory in warfare.

When Joshua was addressing the people of Israel at various stages prior to crossing the river, he was directing them what they needed to do first in the land and then leading the way for the first battle.

He was addressing God’s people as a whole, so we all have to listen to him personally, and we believe that, as we prayerfully consider God’s word, the Spirit of life and the Spirit of reality will minister something to each one of us according to our need.

We are not only individual believers but also members of the Body, the corporate Christ, expressing Him corporately and living Him out in the local churches.

So we all need to be trained and perfected so that we may be a corporate, fighting unit to take the land for Christ.

The Lord in His mercy and grace is opening up what the good land is to us and how we can enter into its possession and enjoyment; on our side, we need to advance in possessing the good land, the all-inclusive Christ and realize the necessity of spiritual warfare for the land to be taken and become our possession.

There must be spiritual warfare to possess the land and deal with the evil occupants of the land.

May we advance with the Lord both personally and corporately so that we may enter into the possession, enjoyment, and experience of the all-inclusive Christ as the good land in our daily living, taking the land for Christ to be what He wants to be in us and for us.

The Book of Joshua is a Book with Profound Types; its Intrinsic Significance is the Taking of the Land

In the Old Testament, there is a typology, a set of types, and in the New Testament there is the complete fulfillment of that typology concerning God’s economy (see 1 Cor. 10:3-4, 1, 11).

The things written in the Old Testament were written not only so that we know how the people of Israel did this and that, how they succeeded here and failed there, and not only to know history and poetry and prophecies.

The things in the Old Testament were written for us, the saints in the churches.

The book of Joshua is a book with profound types; a type refers to a person or a thing that portrays something of spiritual significance.

Typology is the study and interpretation of these types and symbols; this is primarily a biblical matter.

We cannot merely read the Old Testament in a light way; we need to see what are the types in this book and what is the correct interpretation of these types.

The interpretation of the types in the Old Testament is defined and presented in the New Testament; we need to put these together in a proper way, in the light of God’s economy.

We can’t just assume that a type in the Old Testament refers to the reality in the New Testament – we can’t “imagine” things; rather, we need to interpret the Scripture with the Scriptures.

For example, in the book of Joshua we see many profound types (see Josh. 1:13; 2:18; 3:3, 10-11; 5:12; 6:6).

Crossing the river Jordan is a profound type; it does not refer to “crossing the river of death” to “go to heaven”.

Rather, Israel’s crossing of the river Jordan typifies our experience of the death of Christ (see Rom. 6:3-4; Col. 2:20); it is the believers’ experience of the death of Christ to enter into the enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ as the good land.

The priests bearing the ark entering into the river first – this is a profound type; some believers enter into the death of Christ first and remain there until all other believers cross over.

The greatest type in the book of Joshua is the good land, which doesn’t signify “heaven” into which believers enter after death.

Rather, Israel’s entering the good land typifies the believers’ experience of taking over the heavenlies, where Satan and his power of darkness are (Eph. 2:6; 6:12) to enter into the full enjoyment, possession, and experience of the all-inclusive Christ as the good land.

Canaan typifies not the heaven, as many believers think; rather, it typifies the heavenlies spoken of in Ephesians, and it typifies the all-inclusive Christ to be our allotted portion for our enjoyment.

The intrinsic significance of the book of Joshua is the taking of the land (Josh. 1:2, 6; 5:12).

It is very interesting to see that, even though Deuteronomy is before Joshua in the Old Testament, this book speaks of the way to live in the good land, while Joshua speaks of possessing the good land.

Moses taught the people in Deuteronomy how to live in the good land, and Joshua speaks of how to take the good land; experientially speaking, living in the good land is after taking the good land.

The intrinsic significance of the book of Joshua is the taking of the good land – entering into the land, the warfare to take the land, possessing the land, the failures and mistakes and the dealing with them, and the allotment of the portions of the land.

Dear Lord Jesus, how we love You! We want to cooperate with You so that we may enter into the possession, enjoyment, and experience of the all-inclusive Christ as the reality of the good land. Amen, Lord, thank You for Your desire to bring us into the enjoyment of this wonderful, all-inclusive Christ. Thank You for allotting us a portion of Christ together with the saints in the light. We come to You as we come to Your word: shine on us, infuse us with Yourself, and bring us into the full enjoyment of Yourself. Train us for warfare so that we may fight the battle and enter into the enjoyment of this wonderful Christ together with all the saints! Form us as Your army to take the land!

The Good Land Typifies the All-inclusive Christ and the Aerial Part of Satan’s Kingdom

In order for us to understand the significance of the Israelites entering Canaan and the warfare in Canaan, we need to know that Canaan has a twofold significance in typology (see Col. 1:12; Eph. 1:3; 2:2; 6:12).

We cannot just assume that Canaan, the good land, is this or that; we need to use the other portions in the Scriptures, especially in the New Testament, to see what it signifies.

The land of Canaan has two aspects in the typology of the Old Testament: it typifies the all-inclusive Christ with His unsearchable riches (Col. 1:19; Eph. 3:8) and also the aerial part, the heavenly part of the dark kingdom of Satan.

There are two sides, one positive and one negative, related to the land of Canaan; on one hand, it is a land full of riches, rich produce, hills and valleys, flowing with milk and honey, and on the other hand, it is inhabited by these evil nations which need to be destroyed.

In the spiritual interpretation according to the New Testament, the good land of Canaan has two aspects: on the positive side it typifies the all-inclusive Christ with His unsearchable riches, and on the negative side, it signifies the heavenly and dark kingdom of Satan.

On one hand, God has prepared the good land for us, His people, to enter into and enjoy; He has prepared and given to us the all-inclusive Christ who is unsearchable rich, all-extensive, wonderful, and more than sufficient for us to enjoy and partake of to live the Christian life and build up the church to be God’s corporate expression.

On the other hand, Satan has a kingdom; he’s the ruler of this world (John 12:31) and the ruler of the authority of the air (Eph. 2:2), having his authority (Acts 26:18) and his angels (Matt. 25:41).

Satan has his subordinates as principalities, powers, and rulers of the darkness of this world (Eph. 6:12); therefore, he has his kingdom (Matt. 12:26), which is called, the authority of darkness (Col. 1:13).

The people who live in Canaan, the Canaanites, typify the fallen angels, the rebellious angels who follow Satan (Rev. 12:4, 7); they have become the powers, the rulers, and the authorities in Satan’s kingdom of darkness (see Dan. 10:13, 20).

In between us as believers in Christ and the enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ as the good land there is a layer of evil forces who fight against us, distract us, deceive us, and hinder us from the full enjoyment and experience of the good land.

Just as the children of Israel had to fight against the Canaanites so that they may possess and enjoy the good land, so we as the church must fight the spiritual warfare against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenlies (Eph. 6:12) so that the saints may enjoy Christ as the all-inclusive good land.

We all as believers in Christ are members of the church, and together we are formed into an army to fight the spiritual warfare for both ourselves and all the saints to enter into the enjoyment and experience of Christ.

The church, therefore, is not only the house of God, the Body of Christ, the one new man, and the bride of Christ; the church is also a corporate warrior, fighting against Satan’s aerial forces so that all of God’s people may gain more of Christ for the building up of the Body of Christ.

This is so that the kingdom of God may be established and spread so that Christ can come back to inhabit the earth.

May we all progress in our personal life with the Lord and corporately in the church life so that we may enter both into the enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ and in the spiritual warfare to bring all of God’s people into the experience of this rich Christ.

Our Christ is so rich, so all-inclusive, and so full of unsearchable riches, that we will spend eternity exploring His riches, and we will enjoy His un-ending riches, His unsearchable riches.

Lord Jesus, cause us to progress in our life with the Lord both personally and corporately until we enter into the full enjoyment and experience of the all-inclusive Christ as the reality of the good land. Amen, Lord, may we be those trained and equipped as an army, the church, to fight against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenlies so that the saints may enjoy Christ as the all-inclusive land. Gain the church as such a corporate warrior, Lord, that fights against Satan’s aerial forces so that God’s people may gain more of Christ for the building up of the Body of Christ. Amen, Lord Jesus, gain our cooperation both personally and corporately as the church so that all the saints may enter into the possession, enjoyment, and experience of the unsearchable riches of Christ, the reality of the good land!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. Ron Kangas for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Joshua, msgs. 1, 5-6, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-study of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth (2021 summer training), week 2, Possessing the Land of Canaan by Defeating the Satanic Forces.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – O Lord, You’ve called to us, and Canaan we would win, / To be Your corporate man and dwell with You therein; / But how the darkness of this world does hold us in— / O Lord, appear to us, we pray. (Hymns #1190)
  – By the cross discern the spirit / And the Jordan River cross; / Enter then the Land of Canaan, / And enjoy Christ thru the cross. (Hymns #748)
  – Lord, Thou art the Land of Canaan- / Elevated, rich and good, / Flowing with both milk and honey / In a glorious plenitude. / By Thy surplus God we worship, / In Thy fellowship we move; / Thus in love we’re joined together / And God’s building we will prove. (Hymns #196)