Joshua (Program #6) – Taking Possession of the Good Land

Listen to the Lord’s word to Joshua, in Joshua chapter 1, “Moses My servant is dead; now then arise, and cross over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land which I am giving to them, to the children of Israel. Every place on which the sole of your foot treads I have given to you, as I promised Moses…Be strong and take courage, for you will cause this people to inherit the land which I swore to their fathers to give to them.

This was the Lord’s strong word to Joshua, the one God had chosen to replace Moses and lead the children of Israel, not just into the land but also to possess it, to occupy it, labor on it and gain their full sustenance from it.  Actually if our eyes are opened today, we can realize that God is speaking a similar word to us, as His New Testament people, for He had placed Christ before us and has prepared everything that we might enter into Him and to posses Him, as the children of Israel were to possess the good land.

Listen now to Paul’s word in the New Testament Philippians chapter 3:8 “But moreover I also count all things to be loss on account of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, on account of whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as refuse that I may gain Christ.”

The children of Israel were about to gain the good land and we are exhorted by Paul to gain Christ. A real interesting parallel.

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Joshua (Program #5) – The Preparation Before the Attack

The children of Israel were preparing to enter into the good land to do battle with the kings that occupied the land that God had given them to occupy and possess. Prior to their engaging these enemies, Jehovah performed a miracle quite similar to one that He had performed for their fathers, a generation before when they escaped Egypt.  He once again held back the waters allowing them to cross. Only this time not the waters of the Red Sea but the waters of the Jordan River. News of this miracle reached the kings within the land and it caused them no small amount of fear for they realized that God was among the children of Israel once more. Yet the preparation of Israel was still not complete. As we consider the preparation of Israel in Joshua chapter 5, an interesting chapter.

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Hebrews (Program #51) – Discipline for Holiness

In today’s life study, we look at the Christian walk: A walk of holiness, righteousness, and peace as we enter into the Holy of Holies in our everyday Christian life.

The tabernacle of the old testament is a marvelous picture of our experience of Christ, and is a favorite theme in the book of Hebrews. At the center of the tabernacle is the Holy of Holies. Holy, because God’s very presence is there. But, we can also be there as we will see in today’s life study of the Bible.

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Deuteronomy (Program #23) – Warning (Implying Grace) (1) and Christ in Deuteronomy – The Monument, the Altar, and the Offerings

In the land of Israel near the ancient city of Shechem they are two peaks.  One is called Mount Ebal and the other is Mount Gerizim. The two were separated by a narrow valleys and to this day one is called the Mountain of Cursing and the other is the Mountain of Blessing. Because it was here that Moses commanded the children of Israel to erect a monument to the law and an altar for burn offering and peace offering. Under the law man is cursed but under the cross of Christ were He was offered to God as the unique offering, God and man find peace and the very man that was formerly cursed is brought under the blessing of righteous and Holy God.

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Deuteronomy (Program #22) – The Rehearsal of the Law (16)

Deuteronomy contains a lengthy section, 13 chapters actually where Moses rehearsed or repeated the law that had came down from Jehovah on Mt Sinai. He was repeating it to a new generation of the children of Israel that had never heard it before.

We come today to the final program dealingwith this rehearsal of the law and how it concluded gloriously with the children of Israel declaring that they would keep these commandments and walk in them and Moses saying to them, “today you had declared Jehovah to be your God that you would walk on His way and keep His statues, His commandments and His judgments and listen to His voice and He will set you high above all the nations which He has made for praise and for a name and for honor and that you will be a holy people to Jehovah your God as He has spoken.”

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Deuteronomy (Program #20) – The Rehearsal of the Law (14)

Warfare is a big topic in the Bible, what is warfare to a christian?  The New Testament talks about it and especially in Ephesians chapter 6 and most Christians are aware that there is such a thing as spiritual warfare.  Of course the Old Testaments records many battles fought by the children of Israel and we know that these typify the spiritual battle that believers are called to today. We probably also realize that our fight is against Satan and his forces of darkness but in any battle it’s crucial to understand not only who you are fighting against but positively what you are fighting for?  As we see Moses preparing Israel as an army as they were about to enter into the good land.

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Deuteronomy (Program #18) – The Rehearsal of the Law (12)

When Jehovah God gave the 10 commandments to Moses on Mt Sinai to pass on to the children of Israel, they failed to understand that God was giving them a portrait of Himself.  In any society, the laws of that society reflect the kind of person the law giver is. But not only did the 10 basic commandments review our God in His person so also do the detail ordinances and statues that followed.

Deuteronomy, is the rehearsing or re-speaking of the law to a new generation of Israelites waiting to enter into the good land. And each of them unveils more of what kind of God we have.

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Deuteronomy (Program #7) – A Book Concerning Christ

Deuteronomy is a book very much concern with the good land. For 40 years the children of Israel journeyed with the goal of entering into the good land of Canaan. All that they had experience and passed through was for this. And for us as Christians we need to understand that good land represents the goal of our journey as well. Because the good land is a type of our all inclusive Christ.

Listen to the description of it that is found in Deuteronomy 8:7-10 “For Jehovah your God is bringing you to a good land, a land of waterbrooks, of springs and of fountains, flowing forth in valleys and in mountains; A land of wheat and barley and vines and fig trees and pomegranates; a land of olive trees with oil and of honey; A land in which you will eat bread without scarcity; you will not lack anything in it; a land whose stones are iron, and from whose mountains you can mine copper.  And you shall eat and be satisfied, and you shall bless Jehovah your God for the good land which He has given you.”

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Deuteronomy (Program #5) -A Review of the Past (1)

Deuteronomy begins with Moses reviewing 40 years of history to the assembled children of Israel. Kadesh-barnea is at the gate of Canaan in the very place where they had arrived some 38 years before.

Deut 1: 19 And we set out from Horeb, and we went through all that great and awesome wilderness, which you saw, on the way to the hill country of the Amorites, as Jehovah our God commanded us; and we came to Kadesh-barnea.  Verse 21 “See, Jehovah your God has set the land before you; go up, possess it, as Jehovah the God of your fathers has spoken to you. Do not fear, neither be dismayed”…. “Yet you would not go up. Rather you rebelled against the word of Jehovah your God;”

The unbelief and disobedience that the people showed on that day caused their father to falter and not going to possess the land.  As we see Moses now is preparing a new generation to overcome that past and to be strong to enter in and possess the good land.

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Deuteronomy (Program #4) – A Review of the Past (1)

Deuteronomy is a wonderful yet little known book in the Bible. It begins with Moses reviewing the 40 years history of the children of Israel as they wondered in the wilderness deal to their flesh and unbelieving hearts.  God used this long period, first to consumed that unbelieving generation but also to review three persons in a detail way.

Today we come to Deuteronomy to see God manifested, man exposed and Christ unveiled and presented. Hallelujah for this ministry.

In the Bible , it’s easy to see God, all of the miraculous events and creation and demonstration of His power and majesty and in passages like this one where the failures of God’s people are exposed again and again. We also get a very clear picture of what mankind is like in general and what we ourselves are like personally. But to see Christ in the Bible especially in the Old Testament in the book like Deuteronomy is not so easy. more…

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