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.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: TuneIn | RSS

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.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: TuneIn | RSS

Joshua (Program #4) – Crossing the River Jordan

On two occasions in the history of the children of Israel God caused waters to be held back so that Israel can pass over.  The first time of course was their crossing of the Red Sea providing them an escape or an exodus out of the land of Egypt. All Bible scholars agreed that this miracle is actually a type of our own baptism affecting our own escape from the corrupt world, that is under God’s condemnation and judgment.

The second time such a miracle occurred was when the children of Israel were crossing the Jordan river, this time providing them an entrance into the good land, the land of Canaan. The interpretation on this point is not so clearly understood. Many believed that this crossing refers to the believers passage through physical death and their entrance into heaven. But as we will see today such an interpretation misses the real significance of the crossing of the river Jordan

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: TuneIn | RSS

Deuteronomy (Program #25) – The Final Exhortation and Charges, The Blessing of Moses

Deuteronomy, the mysterious little book with a very strange name. Actually it means re-speaking or second speaking as we have seen over the past weeks and this is the an account of Moses re-speaking the law with all of the statues and all the ordinances to a new generation of the children of Israel as they were about to enter into the land of Israel, the good land. But incorporated into this book were page after page of serious warnings of the curses that were befall Israel if they were to not listen to the word of Jehovah.

Near the end of the book, there is a long section, chapter 33, called the song of Moses that accounts in poetic form many incorporated in this book and it concludes this way, a very fitting conclusion to the entire book of Deuteronomy.  “So Israel dwelt securely, The fountain of Jacob in solitude, On a land of grain and new wine; And the heavens over him drop their dew. Happy are you, O Israel; who is like you? A people saved by Jehovah, The shield of your help And He who is the sword of your majesty! So your enemies shall come cringing to you, And you shall tread upon their high places.”

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: TuneIn | RSS

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.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: TuneIn | RSS

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.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: TuneIn | RSS

Deuteronomy (Program #16) – The Rehearsal of the Law (10)

Through out the centuries, mankind has struggled to properly and justly govern himself. How grateful we are as a nation to be living in a democracy where we have so much freedom. No doubt this is God’s mercy to us. When so many people on this earth are living under the oppression and tyranny of dictators of unrighteous monarchs.   But as wonderful as the democracy is, in the Bible God’s way for the governing of His people was not a democracy neither was it by dictators or kings. What God desires for His people, Israel and for us His people today within the Church is a theocracy that is government by God’s divine ruling.  This matter is covered in some detail by Moses in the book of Deuteronomy as the children of Israel who were preparing to enter into the good land.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: TuneIn | RSS

Deuteronomy (Program #10) – The Rehearsal of the Law (3)

To the assembled nation of Israel preparing to cross over the Jordan river and enter Canaan, Moses had this to say, “Hear, O Israel! You are about to cross over the Jordan this day in order to enter in and dispossess nations greater and mightier than you, cities that are big and fortified up to heaven, know therefore today that Jehovah your God is the One crossing over before you as a consuming fire; it is He who will destroy them, and it is He who will subdue them before you, so that you may dispossess them and destroy them quickly, as Jehovah has said to you.”

Surely these words must had filled the people with hope and expectation. but Moses also brought their earlier failures to remembrance, “Remember; do not forget that you made Jehovah your God furious in the wilderness; from the day that you came forth from the land of Egypt up until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against Jehovah.”  Moses once again preparing this new generation to overcome, enter and possess the land.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: TuneIn | RSS

Deuteronomy (Program #9) – The Rehearsal of the Law (2)

Deuteronomy Chapter 7 begins in a way that might be very difficult for us to reconcile with our natural thought.  “When Jehovah your God brings you into the land which you are about to enter to possess, and clears away many nations from before you – And Jehovah your God delivers them up before you and you defeat them, you shall utterly destroy them; you shall make no covenant with them, nor shall you show them any favor.”

God’s word to the children of Israel was as they were preparing to enter the good land was to utterly and absolutely destroy the people that were inhabiting the land. To us today this may seems far too extreme. But what view do we bring to the Scriptures?

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: TuneIn | RSS

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.”

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: TuneIn | RSS