We are so grateful, Lord, for such mercy and grace—that You would allow us to come together in Your presence and stand on holy ground. How wonderful it is, Lord: wherever You are, it is a holy place. We are so grateful for the mercy to seek Your presence, Lord, to come together and seek after You.
We are so conscious, Lord, that unless You reveal Yourself, this time is in vain. Unless You are the One who is somehow speaking to us and sanctifying this time for Your own use, there is no real value. And yet, Lord, what a confidence: it is the desire of Your own heart to reveal Yourself to us.
So, Lord, we come not with an iffy heart, not with doubts, but in the fullness of faith. You took all the initiative in coming after us, in saving us, and in revealing Yourself. Now that we gather together for this weekend, Lord, we pray: would You reveal more of Yourself to us? Would You somehow give us that grace to apprehend that for which we were apprehended?
We commit this time into Your hands. Be merciful to us, Lord. We thank You because it is the pleasure of Your heart to take the almost nothing that we have—five loaves, two fishes, Lord—which is nothing and cannot feed such a great multitude. Yet it is the pleasure of Your heart to receive that, to bless it, to break it, and to feed us. What a gracious Lord.
Would You do even that in this time, Lord? Would You meet us, speak Your living word to us, and arrest our hearts to pursue after You? We are so grateful for this time, Lord. We pray that it would be a blessed time, a precious time, because You are in it. We ask these things in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
Let us turn to Joshua. What else? I would like to read the opening of the book of Joshua, the first nine verses.
Now it came about after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, that the Lord spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ servant, saying,
“Moses My servant is dead; now therefore arise, cross this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them, to the sons of Israel.
Every place on which the sole of your foot treads, I have given it to you, just as I spoke to Moses.
From the wilderness and this Lebanon, even as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and as far as the great sea toward the setting of the sun will be your territory.
No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life.
Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you.
Be strong and courageous, for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.
Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go.
This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success.
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
Let us also read Joshua 5, beginning with verse 13.
Now it came about when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand; and Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us or for our adversaries?”
He said, “No; rather I indeed come now as captain of the host of the Lord.”
And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and bowed down, and said to him, “What has my lord to say to his servant?”
The captain of the Lord’s host said to Joshua, “Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.
Let us turn now to Ephesians 1, beginning with verse 3.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,
just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him.
In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will.
Let us read also from Ephesians 1:10-14.
In Him, that is, in Christ, also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose Who works all things after the counsel of His will,
to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory.
In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise,
Who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.
Finally, Ephesians 3:8:
To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ.
I just want to emphasize that last phrase: the unfathomable riches of Christ.
As we all know, we are setting apart this time to consider Joshua, and more specifically, Joshua 1:9. Let me tell you what is in my heart. As I was meditating on the book of Joshua, somehow I felt a word speaking again to me regarding a desire in His heart, of which we see a very beautiful picture in the book of Joshua.
It has to do with our inheritance: inheriting the fullness of the Son of God. Paul says in Romans 15 that all that was written in the past was written for our instruction. He is referring, of course, to the Old Testament. The book of Joshua is no exception.
When we look at the book of Joshua, we find instruction, but a very specific instruction. In Joshua, we find a picture—or, if you want to use a technical theological term, a type—an illustration of the desire that is in God’s heart. That desire has to do with us today inheriting not just something small, but the fullness of Christ, the fullness of His Son.
The recurrent phrase in the Pentateuch describing the land of Israel’s inheritance is that it is a land flowing with milk and honey. Right there, you have the idea of what that inheritance is all about. The land they were to conquer and possess speaks of something full, something abundant—not something scarce. It flows with milk and honey.
That phrase reminds us of Paul’s description of the gospel of the Lord Jesus: “the unfathomable,” or “the unsearchable,” riches of Christ. Brothers and sisters, this is the portion and inheritance that the Lord has—not for some of His children, not for a select few, but for all His people. It is the will of God that all His people would inherit this fullness of Christ.
What I would like to do this morning is concentrate mainly on the opening of Joshua, the first nine verses, and try to understand what this inheritance is all about. What is behind the inheritance? When did the decision that they would inherit come about? And what does this Old Testament picture point to in the New Testament?
Before we look at that directly, I would like to step back and consider the historical context of this book. Most of us may be familiar with it, but I want to review it. There are two historical contexts to consider: a larger one and a more immediate one.
In the larger context, Joshua represents the culmination of five hundred years of history. When God called Abraham out of the land of Ur, He promised to give him and his descendants an inheritance: the land of Canaan. That happened roughly five hundred years before the book of Joshua.
So when we come to Joshua, we are on the verge of the fulfillment of something the Lord had promised long before. The book stands at the threshold of entering into a much-anticipated and long-awaited promise.
There is also the immediate context. Forty years before the book of Joshua, the people of Israel came out of Egypt, out of slavery, through Moses. Joshua represents the transition between forty years in the wilderness after leaving Egypt and entering the land that flows with milk and honey.
These are not merely interesting historical facts. There is much instruction for us today in both the larger and the immediate historical settings.
When the people came out of Egypt, God’s intention was never that the Exodus would be an end in itself. From the beginning, God made it abundantly clear to Moses: “I am going to take you out of a place into another place.”
The Exodus was never God’s final intention for the people of Israel. Let us read one verse from Exodus 3.
So I have come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey.
Do you see the two sides of God’s intention toward Israel? There is a coming out from something, but that is not the end. That is just the beginning. The final intention is coming into something else.
When we come to Joshua, we are at the threshold of the unto side of redemption. Brother Sparks says something wonderful about this. Coming out of Egypt may be described as the fact of redemption: slaves are freed, a price is paid, and by virtue of that there is deliverance. But coming out of Egypt is not the purpose of redemption; it is the fact of redemption.
The purpose of redemption is seen when Israel enters into Canaan. There are two sides to redemption: the from side is the beginning, but the unto side gives it its meaning and value. Israel was redeemed from Egypt unto Canaan.
This is tremendously important for us. We need to be refreshed by the Lord Himself and reminded of the purpose of our own salvation.
In the Gospel of John, we find two illustrations that show these two sides of salvation. In John 1, John the Baptist sees the Lord Jesus walking and declares:
Behold, the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world.
The Lamb of God reminds us of the Passover lamb, slain on the night of Passover. When that blood was shed and placed on the doorposts, it represented the actual deliverance of Israel from Egypt. When the Lord saw the blood, there was salvation in that house; in every other house there was judgment.
After that Passover night, the people of Israel could truly say, “We have passed from death to life.” When John the Baptist sees the Lord Jesus, he declares that He is the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world. This corresponds to the from side of salvation. Our Lord Jesus died on the cross for our sins, and when we believe in Him, we are delivered and freed from our sins.
That is a wonderful thing—I am not trying to devalue it—but we can be tempted to make it the goal of salvation, the end of it.
Later in the same chapter, John sees the Lord Jesus again:
Behold, the Lamb of God.
This time he does not add, “Who takes away the sin of the world.” He simply says, “Behold, the Lamb of God.” Then the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.
Do you see the difference? The first time, the Lord Jesus is presented as the One Who takes away our sins. The second time, He is presented simply as the Lamb of God, and the result is a following of Him.
We are saved from our sins, yes, but that is just the beginning. We are saved to follow the Lamb, to enter into a living relationship with Him. Or, using the image of Joshua, we are saved to possess our possession and enter into our inheritance.
A second example is John 10:10:
I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
Do you see the progression? “I came that they may have life.” On the Passover night, Israel could say, “We have life tonight. We passed from death to life. We were supposed to be condemned, but we passed from death to life.”
But when they entered Canaan under Joshua, they could say, “Now we have life abundant.” It was not merely the beginning. They entered into that for which the Lord had saved them in the first place: not just life, but life abundantly.
This is what we want to consider together: not just the beginning, but the unto side of salvation—the entering into our inheritance in Christ.
What is that inheritance? We know that it has something to do with the land. Let us look at Deuteronomy 8 to see what this land is all about.
Therefore, you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him.
For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing forth in valleys and hills;
a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey;
a land where you will eat food without scarcity, in which you will not lack anything;
a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper.
When you have eaten and are satisfied, you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which He has given you.
Is that not a land overflowing with milk and honey? Milk and honey are a summary of it all. Brother Christian Chen has often pointed out that milk may be considered the essence of animal life, while honey is the concentration of vegetable life, or flower life. So you have life and life abundant.
There is no lack in that land. Once you are in the land, all your needs are more than met. That is a picture of the inheritance the Lord has for us.
What is the spiritual counterpart of this land in the New Testament? We find it throughout the New Testament, but certain groups of books bring it to the forefront in a special way: the prison epistles—Ephesians, Colossians, and Philippians—the epistles to Timothy, and Hebrews.
I hope we take this weekend as a wonderful opportunity to be together in the Lord’s presence. If you are like me, sometimes you hear wonderful messages, feel inspired and touched, and then somehow put them on the shelf. I truly hope we take this weekend with a different attitude.
I want to go through many verses, not merely to give information, but to give you a little taste. My real desire and expectation is that we would go back and explore this land, explore all these riches, digest them, and meditate upon them before the Lord.
In Whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Do you see a land in which there is a lack of nothing? If in Him all the treasures are hidden, there is nothing lacking in our Lord. That is our inheritance, brothers and sisters.
Some of the riches in the land are exposed on the surface: pomegranates, fig trees, and so on. But some of the riches are mined. You have to go deep to find them. In the same way, some of the riches of Christ are found in deep experience, sometimes in dark places, sometimes under pressure and heat. But thank the Lord: all treasures are hidden in our Lord Jesus.
In Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority.
The treasures in Christ are not unreachable things, far away from us. In Him, you have been made complete. That is the inheritance—the land overflowing with abundance—that is for you and me to possess.
That you may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,
and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge.
Do you see the expanse, the dimensions, and the vastness of our Lord Jesus? Brothers and sisters, this is our inheritance. This is what the Lord has for us to inherit.
We are often tempted to compare ourselves with other saints. We look at church history—Martin Luther, John Wesley, the apostles—and think, “Paul was a different kind of spiritual material. I am not like that.”
But listen to what the Lord says at the beginning of Joshua:
Moses My servant is dead; now therefore arise, cross this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them.
The Lord does not say, “To Caleb,” or to a few especially remarkable people. He says, “You and all this people.” Do you see the desire in the heart of our Father? All His people—not merely a select group—are to come into this land and possess it.
This is music to my ears. My Father wants me, as unworthy and limited as I am, as rough a vessel as I may be, to come into this inheritance. His desire is that all of us come into it. Praise the Lord for that.
When we consider our inheritance, we are not left asking whether it is worth possessing. There is nothing like it. As the psalmist says in Psalm 16, the Lord Himself is our portion and inheritance. Even in the Old Testament, they had a sense that the real portion was not merely the physical land, but the Lord as our portion.
Our inheritance is beautiful, wonderful, abundant, and sufficient. In that land, you would never need to run back to Egypt because some supply was missing. There is sufficiency in Christ—everything that you and I need. All the treasures are in Him, and in Him we are complete.
Let us return to the larger historical context. When did the Lord reveal His intention to give the land to Israel? It was promised to Abraham, far back in history.
Without being dogmatic about dates, if Abraham was around 2000 BC and the conquest of Canaan around 1500 BC, then the Lord’s purpose was declared approximately five hundred years before Joshua led the people into the land.
This was not an afterthought. When the Lord spoke to Joshua on the threshold of fulfillment, Joshua could not have thought that God had just decided this the week before. The promise had stood through all that history.
The same principle is found in Ephesians 1.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,
just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world.
Do you see the richness of the land in its New Testament reality? God has blessed us not with some blessings, nor merely with many blessings, but with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
When did He decide to bless us in this way? He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world. When we consider our inheritance in Christ, we are considering something that was born, purposed, and determined in the heart of God the Father from eternity past.
How sure should we be of His intentions toward us? There is no afterthought in this matter. From eternity past, He has chosen us to possess this inheritance.
In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose Who works all things after the counsel of His will.
Chosen in Him, blessed with every spiritual blessing, and given an inheritance—this is something that comes from eternity past.
In Joshua 1:6, the Lord speaks of “the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.” The Lord does not merely say, “I promised.” He says, “I swore.”
God cannot lie. God is light, and in Him there is no darkness. When God says something, that is enough; His word is absolutely sure. Why, then, would God add an oath?
Hebrews gives us insight into this. First, Hebrews 9:15 speaks of “the promise of the eternal inheritance.” There is no afterthought in this matter. Our inheritance was purposed, decided, and planned from eternity past for you and for me.
Then Hebrews 6 explains that God added an oath not because His word was uncertain, but because He condescended to our weakness. He came down to our level in order to give us extra encouragement. He knows how feeble our faith can be. He knows our tendency, when things become difficult, to ask, “Does God really love me? Does He really want me to inherit this?”
God wanted to make absolutely sure that we understand His intention to give us an eternal inheritance. So, when He made the promise to Abraham, He added an oath. We have two things that are as sure as they can be: the word of God itself, and on top of that, His oath.
The Lord said to Joshua, “Take these people to the land that I swore to give to their fathers.” Brothers and sisters, how sure can we be of the intentions of God toward us in this matter of entering into our inheritance? His purpose is from eternity past, and His word is confirmed by an oath.
Perhaps someone asks, “The land is wonderful, and God’s intention is sure—but is it feasible for us to enter? Is this practical?” Joshua 5 gives us a tremendously encouraging answer.
Joshua stood before Jericho, the first great obstacle in the land. As a military man, he was likely surveying the situation and considering a strategy. Then a man came to him with His sword drawn, ready for action. That man revealed Himself as the captain of the Lord’s host.
Many students of the Bible understand this as a type or figure of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has been given to us for exactly this purpose.
But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth.
The Holy Spirit came to guide us into all truth, or all reality. In terms of our type, the Holy Spirit was given to lead us into the experience of our inheritance in Christ—not merely to hold it as a theory, but to possess Christ as our inheritance.
That is exactly the picture in Joshua. Joshua is trying to figure out what to do, but the captain of the Lord’s host comes. Joshua submits to Him. He realizes that it is not his fighting, and it is not that he must accomplish the work by himself. The Lord will lead His people into the inheritance.
The captain stands ready for battle, with the sword in His hand, ready to take the lead and bring Joshua and all Israel into the inheritance. What a picture.
The whole Trinity is committed to this matter of our possessing our inheritance. The Father purposed it in His love before the foundation of the world. The Son opened the way through His death on the cross, giving Himself as the inheritance for each one of us. The Holy Spirit has come to lead us into the reality of that inheritance.
Brothers and sisters, what else do we need? If all the persons of the Godhead are committed and involved in this, what further encouragement do we require?
There is one more matter to mention. It is obvious when you read Joshua that the book is about conflict and warfare. This may be the part that gives us pause. The inheritance is wonderful, but possessing it comes through conquest and conflict.
The land is there to be possessed, but that possession comes through conflict. This is almost the motto of the book.
There is a perfect New Testament counterpart in 1 Timothy 6:12:
Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life.
Do you see the book of Joshua in a sketch? Taking hold of eternal life is not referring merely to receiving eternal life at initial salvation. It speaks of possessing, laying hold of, and entering into the abundant life of which John 10:10 speaks.
But how do we lay hold of it? “Fight the good fight of faith.” The conquest of the land comes through conflict.
Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual forces of wickedness. If we face such powers in our own wisdom and natural strength, we do not stand a chance. We are talking about the enemy of God—far more intelligent and powerful than we are.
Yet this matter of entering into our inheritance is much larger than our personal spiritual development. It is not merely about you and me growing individually in the Lord, though that is part of it. There is something much greater at stake.
Consider the vision in Revelation 12. There is a woman who is pregnant. Something is being developed within her—unknown to man, perhaps, but known to God. There is a maturing taking place.
When that maturity reaches its fullness, there is a birth. The dragon, whom we are told is Satan, is not primarily concerned with the woman; he is concerned with the child being formed within her, and he wants to devour him.
When the man child is born, he is caught up to heaven. Then there is war in heaven. The dragon and his angels fight against Michael and his angels, and they are thrown down to the earth.
There is a counterpart between this and our inheritance in Christ. Inheriting the fullness of Christ speaks of our growth in the Lord Jesus, our maturing in Him, Christ being formed in us, and our being changed into His likeness.
This is not merely personal. If the woman in Revelation 12 represents the church and the man child represents overcomers—those in whom Christ is being formed and who are coming into maturity—then we see that this is a corporate matter.
When there is a critical maturity among the saints, and the time comes, they are caught up to God. That represents the overthrow of the enemy. They go up; the enemy is cast down.
Do you see the significance of growing in the Lord, possessing our inheritance, and entering into the fullness of Christ? It is much larger than personal development. Somehow, the purpose of God and the destiny of this world and universe hinge upon this matter.
It is no wonder that Joshua is a book of conflict from beginning to end. It is no wonder that the Lord tells Joshua three times in nine verses, “Be strong and courageous.”
Joshua may have been measuring what he was against and coming to the proper conclusion: “We do not stand a chance.” But then the Lord gives promise after promise:
I will be with you.
No one will be able to stand before you.
I will not fail you.
I will not forsake you.
Yes, the enemy is beyond us. In ourselves, we do not stand a chance. But it is not about what you are or what I am.
My favorite promise is this:
Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you.
That reminds me of Moses at the burning bush. Moses was eighty years old, ready to retire and die, and the Lord told him to go to Pharaoh and say, “Let My people go.” Moses asked a very reasonable question: “Lord, who am I to go to Pharaoh?”
The Lord’s answer was, “Certainly I will be with you.” There was the burning bush before Moses: a dried-up, worthless bush, yet burning with the fire of God and not consumed.
Moses understood the significance. In himself, he was merely a dried-up bush. But the eternal fire of God united with him would empower him to accomplish what God commanded.
Do you hear what the Lord says to Joshua? “As I have been with Moses, I will be with you.” That is the word for all of us. When we consider what we are up against, we may say, “Who am I? I do not stand a chance.”
And the Lord says, “It is not what you are in yourself. I will be with you.” In ourselves, we are merely dried-up bushes. But let the eternal fire burn in you. Let the Lord Himself have His way in you. “I will be with you. No one will be able to withstand you.”
Paul closes Romans 8 with this same assurance. He considers the enemy, the hindrances, and the opposition, and asks:
If God is for us, who is against us?
Paul is not romantic about the Christian life. He is very down to earth. He puts everything on the scales:
Who will separate us from the love of Christ?
Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
These are weighty things. We may have little experience of famine, nakedness, or not knowing whether we will have food tomorrow. Yet Paul puts all these things on the scales and still asks, “Who shall separate us?”
Then he goes further:
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
In all these things, we are more than conquerors—not in ourselves, but through Him Who loved us. This is exactly what the Lord is saying to Joshua.
“Have I not commanded you?” It is as though the Lord is saying, “Joshua, this is not your own initiative. You do not have to muster up strength by encouraging yourself. Is it not I, the eternal and almighty God, Who am behind all this and Who command you?”
Therefore, be strong and courageous. Do not fear. Do not be dismayed, because the Lord is with you wherever you go.
Indeed, Lord, we thank You that this whole matter was decided from eternity and made possible at the cost of the Son of God being given on the cross for us. The Holy Spirit has been given in this age to lead us into all reality.
Lord, what assurance and confidence we may have. On top of that, we have Your word backing the whole thing and telling us, “I will be with you. I will not fail you. I will not forsake you.”
What can we say, Lord? We bow down before You and worship You. What love. What grace. Help us, Lord, to see and to stand not on what we are, but on Your eternal word, on Your oath, and in that eternal inheritance that You have promised to give us.
Help us to enter into it and to respond to such love. We thank You, Lord. We pray that all of us this morning would be encouraged by such grace and love given unto us. We ask these things in the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen.