TEXT: Joshua 23-24

SUBJECT: Christ in the Old Testament #12: Joshua

This morning, with God’s blessing, we’ll move on in our study of Christ in the Old Testament.

The text for today’s sermon is the whole Book of Joshua, which the last two chapters nicely summarize. If you haven’t read it in a while, I urge you to do that. Studied in a Christ-centered way it’ll do you good.

What’s the Book about? One thing, really: The inheritance of Israel. Long ago, God promised to give them a land of their own. Made first to Abraham, it was renewed to every generation. The people would one day quit their wandering ways and move onto farms and build permanent places to live. Every devout Jew believed the promise of God and waited for it in hope.

The promise was sure, but it wasn’t quick in coming. Four hundred and thirty years were spent in Egypt as a hated minority. When they finally got out, they came into a wilderness where they wandered another forty years. The wait was long and tedious, and painful.

But, now, at last, it was over! In the days of Joshua, the People took the land of promise and divvied it up. The Lord kept His Word. The children of God had the inheritance.

And with it came a "rest" or a peace or a settledness they never knew before. Not in their tents (even though they were rich men); not in Egypt (even when Joseph sat on the throne); not in the wilderness (even as they ate the manna and drank the miraculous water). Israel was home. Home at last.

And what a home it was! The Lord did not bring His people into a wasteland and say, "Here it is, make the most of it!"

No, quite the opposite was true. Canaan was

Without turning the poetry of these words into a scientific jargon, let’s think about what the words imply

If the land is flowing with milk, it means the cattle are well provided for. And that means thick, lush, green grass (and no predators). And, if it’s flowing with honey, that means there are plenty of bees, which is to say: flowers are everywhere. Put the two together and you’ve got a garden of beauty and productivity.

That is precisely what the men saw who first spied the land,

And to prove it, they brought back a sample of figs, pomegranates, and a cluster of grapes that was so big it two men to carry it!

The produce of Egypt was good, but nothing like this. The richness of the land was mind-boggling. If a teenage giant could grow fat on it, imagine what it would do for ordinary men!

Canaan was not only a rich land, it was a cultivated one. The Mississippi Delta was always rich, of course. But when the white man first came there, it was full with trees. Before they could do anything with it, they had to clear the land. And, if you’ve ever dug up a stump, you know how hard and time-consuming that is. The land had potential, but only after a lot of work was done.

Add to that the work involved in building cabins, making roads, digging wells, putting up fences, erecting churches, stores, schools, and so on. The land was full of potential. But that’s all it was, potential.

But unlike the men who first came west, the Israelites came into a land that was already cleared, houses that were already built, and more. Deuteronomy 6:10-11,

Thus, God gave them—not only a land—but a land in which someone else had done all the hard work for them!

The rich, cultivated land they would have was a big one. When we look at a map of Israel, we’re struck by how small it is. It’s a sliver of land between Egypt and other big countries.

But this was not the land they had in the days of Joshua. It stretched from River to River, i.e., from the Nile in the west to the Euphrates in the east. And that’s big.

Some good men have argued that Israel never had all that land, that the promise awaits a future fulfillment. This is not a doctrine I harp on, but I don’t see how that way of thinking can be true. Joshua 23:14 seems to say otherwise,

(Now, I’m a good Calvinist, of course. I know the word "all" doesn’t always mean "all without exception". But here—what else could it possibly mean? "Not one thing has failed…All have come to pass…Not one Word has failed…").

In giving His people this land, God did

They did nothing to deserve the land. They did much, in fact, to lose it—before the even came into it. Think of their unbelief in the wilderness, their rebellion, their idolatry, their non-stop murmuring, their pleas to go back to Egypt. What a wretched, unworthy people they were. Yet,

God didn’t give them the land because of what they were, but in spite of it.

Yet the land, so freely given to them, could also be lost. Leviticus 26, Deuteronomy 28, and other places make it crystal-clear that if Israel turned from God, He would turn them out of the land. The came into the land because the Amorites had polluted it. Their ways were so sickening that the land had

If Israel lived wickedly, the land would do the same to them. Leviticus 18:28

This was the threat. Was it fulfilled?

It was. At least three times. The Northern Kingdom was carried away into Assyria. That occurred in 722 B.C. About 150 years later, the Southern Kingdom was exiled to Babylon. They came back, of course. They lost the land, but only for a time.

But there was another exile. It is predicted in the Bible, and fulfilled in 70 A.D. In rejecting God’s Son, Israel rejected His mercy. The army of Titus leveled the city of Jerusalem and cast the Jews to the four winds.

The inheritance they got was lost. God was slow to anger, patient, and forgiving. But, in time, His patience wore out. Paul, a man who loved his people more than his soul, had to say,

The inheritance is lost. Lost forever.

To some people that’s a terrible blow, a shattering of every romantic dream, just another Lost Cause.

But it shouldn’t be. For as wonderful as Canaan was, it was never meant to be the full inheritance of God’s People. The Lord didn’t take it away to deprive us of something, but only to give us Something Better.

The land was first promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Do you think they feel gypped out of it? No they don’t. They were not satisfied with Canaan. They wanted,

They saw Canaan as a token of what God had for His People. As nothing more than a Promise of "Better things to come".

In other words, Canaan was a Prophecy—a prediction of what God would one day do for us.

If Canaan is the promise, what’s the fulfillment? The short answer is Heaven. That’s what God has for us, a land infinitely richer, bigger, and more lasting than anything the Hebrews ever got!

Who’ll bring us there? Not Joshua, son of Nun. He was a great man, but the most he could do is conquer a land. No, it’s the other Joshua, the Joshua ben-Joseph who’ll lead us into our Promised Land.

Who’s that? None other than Jesus Christ. What Joshua did for his people, the Lord does for us--only more.

The interpretation is not fanciful. I got it right out of the Bible, Hebrews 4:8,

Joshua gave God’s People a rest, but not the Rest we truly need. That was left up to his namesake, the Lord Jesus Christ.

It is in Christ that God gives us grace and glory. All the grace we need in this life; all the glory we can tolerate in the life to come.

If there are any limitations in heaven, they are not in God’s willingness to give, but only in our inability to receive.

What does this all mean to the unbeliever?

It means you’re "not at home"—not even at home! Israel could never settle down in their tents, in Egypt, or in the wilderness. Why not? Not because they were just hard to please. But because they were made for Canaan and Canaan was made for them. Until they came there, they were never at home.

The same is true of you and Christ. You were made for Him. Until you find Him through faith, your soul must be homeless.

If you’re young, you think other things will give you a home. You think marriage will; or maybe kids. A good career might do it or a lot of money. Or something else. Maybe a secret thing you crave.

But you’re wrong. There was a young man who lived in North Africa. Though he had a loving family, he didn’t feel at home with them. He thought a wife would do the trick, but she didn’t. Neither did a good son, a new place to live, much learning and a promising career. The young man was named Aurelius. He had it all, but couldn’t settle down. He tells us why,

Unless you’re in Christ, you’re "not at home". Go to Him—right now in faith. And you’ll find your home.

To believers, I can only say, why don’t you believe what you have in Christ? The Jew who griped about the barrenness of Canaan wasn’t paying attention!

And neither are you if you resent or complain about how little you have. What do you have in Christ?

Peter says you have "All things which pertain to life and godliness through Him who called you by virtue and glory". Paul adds, "All things are yours". Nothing you need is withheld from you now. That’s the promise of God. At the moment, it doesn’t seem to be true. Thus, it has to be taken by faith. But one day, "sight" will replace "faith", and you’ll see that you have it all. Because you have Christ.

Nothing can be added to Him.

The Levites got no land. But they didn’t feel "ripped off". They got something better, "The LORD is their inheritance". And yours too. God bless you. For Christ’s sake. Amen.