Originally posted by Zahlanzi
Joshua captured all these royal cities and all their kings and annihilated them with the sword, 18 as Moses the Lord’s servant had commanded. 11:13 But Israel did not burn any of the cities located on mounds, 19 except for Hazor; 20 it was the only one Joshua burned. 11:14 The Israelites plundered all the goods of these cities and the cattle, but they totally destroyed all the people 21 and allowed no one who breathed to live.
What struck me was the ruthlessness of God's command. The New Testament portrays Christ as the "Good Land" to be conquered and apportioned to His people.
It is significant that it is
Colossians which makes the allotment allegory because Christ in
Colossians is so vast.
He is the image of the invisible God
(1:15)
He is the
Firstborn of all creation too
(1:15).
In Him all was created - seen, unseen, in heaven and on earth
(1:16)
He's the source of the structure of all authority and deputy authority
(1:16).
He is before things and all things cohere in Him
(1:17).
It is no wonder that absoluteness and ruthlessness to all the aspects of the fallen nature must be conquered to inherit this Christ. He is everything men and women need.
He is the Head of the entity,
"the Body" which is infused with His life
(1:18)
He is therefore a new
beginning (1:18).
He is the Firstborn not only of creation but of the dead
(1:19).
All the
"fullness" was
"pleased" to dwell in Christ
(1:19).
He is the source of reconciliation of all things to God
(1:20).
He has the preeminence in all things
(1:18) or
"the first place in all things".
The antitype of the Promised Land is therefore Jesus Christ as the all-inclusive God-man dispensed into His redeemed people.
This One is able to eventually present everyone who believes into Him before Him
"holy and without blemish and without reproach" (1:22)
The church is
rooted and grounded in Him like a "soil" or plot of land for growing God in man.
(1:23).
In Him we can rejoice even in our sufferings. We do not rejoice because of suffering. But we rejoice in Him because He is such a rich supply.
(1:24)
The mystery hidden from ages and generations has now been manifested -
"which is Christ in you the hope of glory" (1:27) . The indwelling Christ is the seed which cannot but blossom into the full splendor the mingling of divinity and humanity - the
"glory" - the divinization of humanity.
Paul and his co-apostles there for labor and struggle to present every man
"full-grown in Christ" (1:28) proving that it is a matter of a GROWING Christ, a process of Christ more and more dispensed into man.
Again,
" ... in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily" (2:9).
All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are in Christ
(Col. 2:3).
The believers must realize they are
"rooted and built up in Him" (2:7)
"Rooted" denotes an organic relationship drawing up all the riches of Christ as life into the plant.
"Built up" denotes this living entity is also a "building" or holy living temple.
Rooted and grounded and rooted and built up in this Christ, is the believers' destiny.
It was in the good land of Canaan the Israelites eventually built the temple of God as kind of capital of God's dwelling place on the earth. The type is now realized in the building up of local churches and finally the
New Jerusalem as the eternal temple of God dwelling in man and man in God.
The point of this post is that
Colossians goes so far to portray Christ like an all-inclusive, expansive and rich land containing all that is needed for man to fulfill God's eternal purpose and provide for man's eternal enjoyment.
This is the fight really worth fighting - to thoroughly inherit such a Christ.