Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Take the land



I was in the book of Joshua the other morning and I came across the following verse:

Joshua 10: 7,8 - 7 So Joshua went up from Gilgal, he and all the people of war with him, and all the mighty men of valor. 8 And the Lord said to Joshua, “Do not fear them, for I have given them into your hands. Not a man of them shall stand before you.”

Joshua 18: 3 - So Joshua said to the Israelites: “How long will you wait before you begin to take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has given you?

If we look even earlier we will see this.

Deuteronomy 7: 22-24 - 22 The Lord your God will clear away these nations before you little by little. You may not make an end of them at once, lest the wild beasts grow too numerous for you. 23 But the Lord your God will give them over to you and throw them into great confusion, until they are destroyed. 24 And he will give their kings into your hand, and you shall make their name perish from under heaven. No one shall be able to stand against you until you have destroyed them.

Actually all we need to do is look at the promise God made in Genesis 3.

Genesis 3: 15
I will put enmity between you and the woman,
    and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
    and you shall bruise his heel.”

God promised to defeat Satan some 4000 or so years before Christ was born. The battle was essentially over before it ever began!

These great Old Testament stories are simply precursors pointing us to the Cross. Christ defeated sin and death and gave us life and freedom.  He has already done everything for us. Christ faced down Satan, Christ fulfilled the law, and Christ met the demands God had for us that we could never meet. John showed us this.

John 19: 30 - When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

It is finished! As I have said over and over in my posts, these are the three most powerful words ever spoken. The work has been done, the enemy has been defeated and the land is ours to possess. The life we now live is a life that should reflect a heart of thanksgiving and not a heart of obligation. The life we now live should not be a life of do more, work more or try harder. The life we now live should be a life of resting more in the finished work of Christ. God help us not to miss this.

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