Possessing your Promised Land

Derek shows how Israel's journey from Egypt into their Promised Land is a picture of our spiritual journey from the kingdom of darkness into the promised land of God's perfect will for our lives. God has given us an inheritance (promised land) both for this life and throughout eternity, which is hidden in Christ in God. Christ is our life, and as we trust, follow and obey Him, He will lead us into our promised land; that is, we will come into the experience and enjoyment of our inheritance in Christ (Colossians 3:1-4, Ephesians 2:4-10). To possess our inheritance we need to know that (1) God has ordained and defined its boundaries and has GIVEN it to us (legally) through the New Covenant in His Blood, and (2) God Himself is GIVING us (leading us into) our promised land (in our experience), as we walk in fellowship with Him and obey Him, so that as we walk in His footsteps, every place where where our feet tread, has not only been given to us legally in Christ, but also becomes ours experientially, because God is giving it to us, through His Power and Presence with us (Joshua 1:1-4). In this way, we POSSESS the land which the Lord our God is GIVING us to POSSESS (v11). Thus we cannot possess our inheritance without the Presence of God with us (v5), and therefore the key to possessing our promised land is to value the Presence of God in our lives above all things (Matthew 6:33). This vital principle is revealed through a study of Exodus 33, where Moses chooses God's Presence over the Promised Land: “If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here (to go into the Land)" (v15), and as a result God gave him the great promise of both: “My PRESENCE will go with you, and I will give you REST (in the Promised Land)” (v14). We see these principles with Israel, when Joshua (Yeshua) led them into their land. Now, the greater than Joshua, our Yeshua, is leading us into our inheritance. In Joshua 1:5-9, God gave Israel (and us) the Promise of His Presence going with them to lead them into their inheritance (v5), and then used a 4-fold poetic repetition, where He first told them what He expected of them, and then gave them the promise that they will be successful in possessing their land if they fulfil His 2 conditions (v6-9). Four times, He commanded them (1) to be STRONG in faith and through faith, in their heart, through continual meditation on His Word (v8), and (2) to be COURAGEOUS to observe to do (obey) all His commands (v7), and then (3) they will have good success in possessing their inheritance (v6), for the Lord their God will be with them wherever they go (v9). God summarised the same points, when He said through Isaiah: “If you are (1) willing (in your heart) and (2) obedient (in your life), you shall (3) eat the good of the land” (1:19).