God had many expectations regarding Israel in Canaan in Joshua’s times, but they were not all fulfilled because of the negligence of the people. Likewise, God has expectations for us and of our attitude toward His dear Son.

The land that I give them

Eliseo Apablaza F.
Synthesis of a message shared in the Rucacura Conference (Chile) in January 2003.

“Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel” (Joshua 1:2).

God had a dream for His people; he prepared it five hundred years before so that they would enter in to inhabit the good land. When we read Leviticus and Deuteronomy we find the expectations that God had for them. One phrase is repeated many times: “When Jehovah your God has brought you into the land... When you enter the land that Jehovah your God gives you....”

Likewise, God has a dream for His people today. God doesn’t want them to conform with being brought out of Egypt, or with receiving manna in the desert every day. God’s dream is that all His people enter in to enjoy Canaan. He doesn’t want us to be a vagabond people who don’t have a north, who only wait for the day of their death. He has a dream for His people, and it is that we all know how glorious Christ is, how sufficient, how rich and wonderful He is, and how abundant the inheritance is which God has given us in Him. For certainly, “The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.” (Psalm 16:6).

God gives commandments to Israel so that it will go well with them in the land. He wants them to prolong their days there forever. God’s goals and objectives were very beautiful: a holy people living in a good land. The Lord also wants us, in these days, as a holy people, to inhabit the good land and fully enjoy it. Not like Abraham who walked as a stranger in a foreign land. Nor like Moses who saw it from afar without being able to enter in to it.

Crossing the Jordan

When Israel entered into the Promised Land, they didn’t have to make big preparations. God told them: “Get your supplies ready. Three days from now you will cross the Jordan.” Then it says that “they lodged there before they passed over.” Many Christians today think that God’s blessings –Christ as our inheritance and as the abundant life– are obtained if we are able to do things. Many are teaching that gifts must be bought, but God doesn’t sell life; He has given it by grace! He says: “Come, buy wine and milk without money” (Is.55:1).

When Israel crossed the Jordan, it was sufficient that the priests took the ark on their shoulders, and that their feet touched the water. Then the water stopped flowing, and rose up like a mountain. The priests were on the river bed, and the people passed by on dry land. It was sufficient that Christ was lifted up, and the waters stopped. That ark which the priests lifted up is Christ. It is sufficient that the people of God exalt Christ; that the priests of this new dispensation, you and I, sustain the testimony on our shoulders. If Christ is lifted up, then we can cross the river on dry land.

They crossed the river Jordan on dry land, the same as what happened in the Red Sea. Israel was baptized twice: in the sea, and in the river Jordan. Both are also walls that separate us from what remains behind. The Red Sea is a wall between us and the world. We cannot go there and the world cannot reach us. And then the Jordan: through which we are separated from a sad time in which we couldn’t find satisfaction; in which Christ seemed distant from us.

The first steps in the land

We hardly finish crossing the river before facing further sharp testing in Gilgal. There one faces circumcision; there the disgrace of Egypt is removed. By the light of the New Testament, it is Christ’s circumcision, through which our carnal sinful body has been put off. The circumcision is also the weakened extreme that a man can come to. Christ’s circumcision leaves us totally weakened in our own strength, to the extreme that it would seem we will never be able to serve God.

However, the Passover soon comes, a happy, blessed commemoration, in which the faithfulness of God is celebrated. A family gathered around a lamb. Oh, how beautiful it is to see a family gathered around a lamb! How beautiful to see to the church gathered around Christ! Blessed is our Passover, which is Christ, who was sacrificed for us!

Then come the first fruits. For forty years, the people of Israel wandered in the desert wanting to eat the fruits of the land. Now that dream is made reality. They had not planted anything, nor had they sowed anything. They simply entered to eat what others had sowed.

Jericho

While the people are still celebrating, there is a man who is concerned. Joshua leaves the feast to walk alone. Jericho is before him. He could see the high and thick walls. Joshua is concerned. “How will we take that city? If we siege it, our enemies will destroy us.” However, a Man with a drawn sword appeared before him, and tells Joshua: “I am the Captain of the army of Jehovah.” Joshua takes off his sandals, and falls facedown before him. And then Joshua’s questions are answered. Behold, the man with the drawn sword will fight Israel’s battles. Israel will not have to draw their swords, nor take up their shields, nor charge with a lance. It won’t be necessary, because God will go before Israel!

Some spiritual principles

When we look at the book of Joshua to extract some spiritual principles, the first thing that we find is that the land was not conquered, but simply taken in possession, as an inheritance. In no part of the book of Joshua is the word “conquer” used. It only speaks of taking the inheritance, of receiving a possession. The word “conquer” means to acquire something by force of weapons. In the Old Testament, we find the word “conquer” associated with other people, like Ethiopia, or Assyria, or Babylon. Israel never conquered anything. Israel received everything as an inheritance!

A second principle is that God went before them preparing the way, and the people were behind, picking up what God had already done. The people that Israel faced were a frightened people; they were terrified and trembled.

Is this not also true of us? The Lord Jesus has defeated all our enemies, and we go behind Him, claiming what He already won. Jesus is the great overcomer! We go picking up the booty of His victory. Blessed is the Lord!

A third principle is summarized in what Gilgal means. Gilgal was the center of operations while the people advanced in taking possession. Gilgal speaks to us, as we said, of the weakening of the old man. Only one that has been broken, one that has been weakened almost to the point of death can conquer. The people came out, fought a battle, and returned to Gilgal. They went toward the south, and returned to Gilgal. They advanced toward the north, and returned to Gilgal. In the measure that we are detained on this principle, in the measure that the flesh is robbed of its strength, in the measure that we fight the battles of God in the Spirit, in that measure, all of Christ will be ours.

A fourth principle could be summarized in this way: we only receive what we have explored. The Lord said to Joshua: “I have given you every place where you shall set your foot.” The key is to walk through the land, to go taking possession of it. Then we go saying: “This is mine,” “This is also mine.”

God told Joshua: “Do not let this Book of the law depart from your mouth; meditate onit day and night.” (1: 8). Where will we know our inheritance is? Where will we find Christ? We will go to the Word, we will read its pages. We will travel from Genesis to Revelation time and again, we will stroll through it searching for what it tells us of Christ, how much it shows us of the inheritance that we have in Christ. So, to walk through the land is to explore the Scriptures to find Christ.

A fifth principle is what somebody has defined as an “attitude of readiness.” Somebody once said that the greatest men of God are not those that do more things, but are those who are great receivers. Time alone with God, available to him, attentive listening, attaching our heart to his. Saying to him: “Do you have something to communicate to your servant? Is there something that you want to say to your people? Is there a new measure of Christ that we have to know? Is there a new glimmer of His glory, a new expression of His person?”

God wants to give us over completely to Christ, but we are not always available. We are too busy. He won’t be able to leave His mark in us if we are not available. Let us imagine the following scenes: A father goes with his four year-old son to the house of a famous pianist, in order to transform his son into a pianist. The pianist will not only demand money, but rather, he will require the child be with him the whole time; surely for many years. A young father takes his son to the police academy. The father says to the director: “I want my son to be a policeman.” The boss will tell him: “Leave your son here with me, and in three years I will transform him into a policeman who is useful to the nation.”

Will we be able to be transformed into Christ’s likeness if we are not available to Him? I believe that God is telling us: “Do you want to be like my Son? Then, be at my disposal for the next twenty years, and I will make you what you want to be.” We have to be available; an encounter has to take place in time and in space. You have to be willing and open.

God doesn’t hope for our contribution, but our readiness. All the treasures of wisdom and of knowledge are hidden in Christ. In this good land there are treasures that are available for those searchers of spiritual treasures, for those that have been attracted by Christ to lean back against his shoulder; that are available like Mary to sit down at Christ’s feet.

There is an old strategy used by Satan, which he continues using today; the strategy of Pharaoh: “Does Israel want to go to the desert to worship God? Fine, make them work twice as hard so that they forget those desires. Don’t give them the straw; make them come to look for it, and ensure that they produce the same amount.” When a man has spiritual aspirations, Satan fills him with desires, to keep him busy.

Satan’s strategy gave him results with the people of Israel for some time in Egypt, but in these times, he has gained more results with the children of God. They have a lot of work, they have a lot to buy, they have things to sell, they have business to do. They are slaves to work, so they are not available to God. There is no sense of readiness or openness. For that reason the good land is there, waiting, still without being taken. (See Joshua 18:2-3).

A change of perspective

I believe that today God is inviting us, not so that we bring our money and to try to buy another portion of Christ. God invites us so that we come to him, with our hands facing upwards, to receive from the abundance of grace and from the gift of righteousness. In the beginning, we came wearily to the faith, and the Lord gave us rest. But perhaps today you are tired after having tried to complete the law. You have not realized that you have slipped from faith to works.

You have to have a change of perspective. We have to come with our hands empty. Whatever we have in them –our works, our righteousness, our methods– we release it; they will never give us the victory. We could fight for seventy, or a hundred years, and everything will be useless.

Let us come with our hands open, looking toward heaven, saying: “Lord, our God, I don’t only want Christ as my Savior; but also as my inheritance, my rest, my fullness. Open my eyes to see that your work was finished on the cross, to see that I was not only reconciled with you on the cross, but now, being reconciled, I am saved by your life. I want the superior life, not my life that is so fragile, that is discouraged, that decays so quickly. I want that eternal life, that abundant life which is Christ my Lord. Amen.

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