After forty years of wondering life in the wilderness, the
people of Israel led by Joshua were poised to enter the land of Canaan,
standing on the land of Kadesh Barnea where the old generation stood forty
years ago but rejected to enter. Moses gave them the instructions before they
entered the land, which are recorded in the Book of Deuteronomy. These people
are the new generation of Israel because the old perished in the desert due to
the unbelief and stubbornness (Hebrews 3:7-11). After the death of Moses, God
appointed Joshua as a new leader. The first thing they were told to do is to
cross the Jordan River. To enter the Promised Land means to enter rest in God.
So they were to be charged with the proper instructions to keep on remaining in
the rest of the Lord God. Two spies were sent out to scout the land and found
out an amazing fact what had happened in the people of the land at the news of
crossing the Red Sea forty years ago.
“After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord
said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide: ‘Moses my servant is dead. Now then,
you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I
am about to give to them—to the Israelites. I will give you every place where
you set your foot, as I promised Moses. Your territory will extend from the
desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates—all the Hittite
country—to the Mediterranean Sea in the west. No one will be able to stand
against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with
you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.’” (Joshua 1:1-5)
First of all, the land will be given by God who promised to
the forefathers. It’s a gift from God. It’s not something they are deserved to
receive but given by grace as he promised. God will give every place where they
set their foot and extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the Euphrates in
the east to the Mediterranean Sea in the west. No one will be able to stand
against Joshua all the days of his life. As God was with Moses, so he will be
with Joshua and he will never leave him nor forsake him.
What does this promise signify? Where is such a promise
found in the world? It’s not available at all. The world promises to give much
but delivers nothing. It’s God’s grace. Entering the land signifies sharing all
inheritance in God with Christ. They were delivered by God from the bondage of
Pharaoh and crossed the Red Sea and could enter the land in forty days. But
they refused to enter the land because they were afraid of the Canaanites. They
refused to believe in God who carried them on eagles’ wings and brought them
into himself. Rather, they followed their fleshly desires and wondered around
in the desert and all perished except Joshua and Caleb.
It wasn’t that God wanted them to be put in the wilderness
but they chose it. God never wants anyone to be perished but all to be saved.
At the same time, our God never forces anyone to choose the right thing. He
leaves us to choose in entirety. However, when we choose not the right thing
before God, there is no way for us to escape the consequence set by the Law of
God. Though they were delivered and led out of the Egypt by grace, they failed
to choose to enter the land God offered because they relied on their flesh
rather than God and his promise. The Epistle of Hebrews tells that it was their
stubborn and hardened hearts which caused the consequence of God’s wrath.
“So, as the Holy Spirit says: ‘Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of
testing in the wilderness, where your ancestors tested and tried me, though for
forty years they saw what I did. That is why I was angry with that generation; I
said, “Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.”
So I declared on oath in my anger, “They shall never enter my rest.”’” (Hebrews
3:7-11)
No one can enter God’s rest unless they follow and obey him.
There is no distinction in people, race, religion, status, and anything. Only
those who are willing to submit themselves completely to God are allowed to
enter God’s rest. Entering God’s rest means relying on him in everything through
the faith in Christ. It is the easiest and most difficult thing for us to do.
It is the easiest thing for us to do because it simply trust in him and let him
do his work through us. It is the most difficult thing for us to do because it
simply bothers our deeply entrenched pride within us. That’s the only way to
enter his rest. That’s the reason our Lord Jesus died on the cross and shed his
blood.
It’s a process to enter his rest in all the areas of our
life. God will give us every place where we set our foot. It could be our
church life, sex life, recreation life, work, school life, or business. No one
can stand against us who are in God’s rest sealed by the power of the Spirit.
God never leaves us nor forsakes us who have entered his rest. Even the devil
cannot condemn those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1).
“Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these
people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them. Be strong
and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you;
do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful
wherever you go. Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it
day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then
you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and
courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will
be with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:6-9)
The following instruction for Joshua is to be strong and
courageous. Who doesn’t want to be strong and courageous in all circumstance,
especially before a huge task? God tells the secret how to be strong and
courageous always. Of course, it’s not that Joshua was made panic proof by some
magical power. He could be strong and courageous because God swore to their
ancestors to give the land. Secondly, he could be strong and courageous when he
carefully kept on obeying all the law and did not turn from it to the right or
to the left. Obedience to the word of God is the way to enter his rest. Obedience
requires first putting off the old life, the rebellious and disobedient mind
and heart against God and then putting on the new life in Christ Jesus, the
obedient mind and heart to the Father in heaven. Some may think that they are
obeying God in their own craftily invented way like the Pharisees in the first
century, not in the way God prescribed in the Scriptures. To obey God rightly
is required to read and meditate day and night, so that we may be careful to do
everything written in it.
And he could be strong and courageous for the Lord God would
be with him wherever he went. He didn’t have to be afraid nor be discouraged.
It’s the commandment of God. How could he be commanded to be strong and
courageous, not to be afraid, and not to be discouraged? It’s because it’s
coming from Immanuel God who is with us. It’s disobedience to God if not to be
strong and courageous. It’s disobeying him if to be afraid and discouraged. It
really works like this. God demands us to be strong and courageous and at the
same time provides overflowing power to be strong and courageous. He is the
giver of power what it takes. That’s it. Christ in you, the hope of glory.
“So Joshua ordered the officers of the people: ‘Go through the
camp and tell the people, “Get your provisions ready. Three days from now you
will cross the Jordan here to go in and take possession of the land the Lord
your God is giving you for your own.”’” (Joshua 1:10-11)
Joshua ordered his people to get ready to enter and take
possession of the land. In three days they would cross the Jordan River. Three
days indicate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. It says that God’s
rest is only given through the power of resurrection which is in turn given
only through the death. That’s why our Lord Jesus died on the cross in order to
make us alive through the faith in him. Apostle Paul says that we died with
Christ, buried with him, and rose again with him when the Father raised the Son
from the dead on the third day (Galatians 2:20).
The Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh
will stay in the east of the Jordan but the all their fighting men must cross
over ahead of the fellow Israelites and help them until the Lord gives them
rest. They shall join the fight because they are the brothers of nine and half
tribes. They answered Joshua that they would obey him just as they obeyed Moses
(Joshua 1:12-18).
Chapter 2 of Joshua tells us the remarkable spy story which
gave the Israelites the assurance and confidence that God would give them this
land. Two spies secretly were sent out to look over the land, especially
Jericho and entered the house of a prostitute Rahab and stayed there. The spies
were soon detected by the secret force of the king who was alarmed and began to
search intently their whereabouts. The king’s message arrived to Rahab and
demanded to yield them to the king of Jericho. But she hid them under the
stalks of flax on the roof and skillfully told them they had already left. The
soldiers went out to pursue the spies on the road. What Rahab told the Israeli
spies was truly remarkable and astounding in hearing.
“Before the spies lay down for the night, she went up on the
roof and said to them, ‘I know that the Lord has given you this land and that a
great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are
melting in fear because of you. We have heard how the Lord dried up the water
of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon
and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely
destroyed. When we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear and everyone’s
courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and
on the earth below.’” (Joshua 2:8-11)
The people of Jericho was shocked and terrorized since they
heard that the Israelites crossed the Red Sea on foot. No wonder God wanted
them to enter the land forty years ago and to take it as their possession. The
hearts of people in Jericho had been melting forty years in fear and everyone’s
courage failed. Two spies couldn’t believe it. But it was enough evidence that
God gave them the land as he promised to the ancestors. Then, she asked
something unbelievable that she wanted them to swear by the Lord that they
would show kindness to her family. The men assured her that they would treat
her kindly and faithfully when the Lord gave them the land. The Book of Hebrews
tells us the faith of Rahab who is listed in the genealogy of our Lord Jesus
Christ (Matthew 1:5).
“By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the
spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.” (Hebrews 11:31).
By faith she trusted in the God of heaven and earth and
welcomed the spies. By exercising the gift of faith in Almighty God, she feared
the God of Israel more than the king and people of Jericho. God honored her
faith and she and her family were not killed with those who were disobedient.
“Now the men had said to her, ‘This oath you made us swear
will not be binding on us unless, when we enter the land, you have tied this
scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and unless you have
brought your father and mother, your brothers and all your family into your
house.’” (Joshua 2:17-18)
The sign she must tie in the window of her house was the
scarlet cord which would guarantee the safety and security of her family from
any harm. It reminds of the blood sprinkled in the doorpost of house of Israel
in Egypt that the angel of death passed over the house with blood on the night
all the firstborns of Egypt perished. The scarlet cord indicates the blood of
Christ because only through which anyone can be saved. There is no other way to
come to the Father except through the Son Jesus Christ (John 14:6). It applies
to the old saints as well as the new saints. Christ is the way, the life, and
the truth to all mankind. Immediately after the men left, Rahab tied the
scarlet cord in the window. They reported everything to Joshua that had
happened to them.
“They said to Joshua, ‘The Lord has surely given the whole
land into our hands; all the people are melting in fear because of us.’”
(Joshua 2:24)
What else could they say or add to it? In this way, God who
was faithfully with Moses prepared the heart of Joshua and his people to enter
the land and to take the possession of it.
Prayer: Our Father in heaven, thank you for bringing us to
your rest through the faith in Jesus Christ. Thank you for making us strong and
courageous in the land all the days of our life because you have promised to
give us to the patriarchs of faith in Christ. Thank you for making us strong
and courageous by knowing the truth of God and not turning from it to the right
or to the left by meditating the word day and night. Thank you for making us
strong and courageous by being with us, Immanuel God forever. In Jesus’ name.
Amen.
February 21, 2016
© 2015-2016 David
Lee Ministries – All Rights Reserved.
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