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06Jos001.mp3
Commentary
Joshua is officially the new leader, in the place of Moses, to lead the People over into the great land of Canaan. The People will have as their own possession all of the land that they can walk on or see with the eye. I have a map here, and I can see that the banks of the Jordan river is an extremely vast distance from the banks of the Euphrates river. Syria and Iraq are between the Jordan and Euphrates rivers. In this map of the Middle East, you can see that from the south, the Euphrates travels northwest to close the distance between south Jordan and south Euphrates rivers. These two rivers serve as landmarks, designated by God, to mark the property line of the Promised Land. This is the land to which Joshua will now lead the Chosen People of God.
I think it's interesting that even though God could have done things differently, in that He could have simply smitten the heathen inhabitants of the land that the People will go over to possess. He could have put fear in them and drove them off. There are ways that He could have handled this that we haven't even imagined, and still He left the People to go in to possess it with military tactics. Even though the People have trained to be a holy nation, to represent the Most High God, and even though they have spent 40 years working hard to come to the place that the Lord has given them, they still must work to possess it. Remember also that God is giving this land to the Israelites as a covenant promise to Abraham and his descendents, and that it is free.
When the expression is used, "it is free" you can be sure that it's not without nothing that we receive that which is offered. Obviously, effort must be made in order to receive anything. Even if it's as simple as holding out your hand, it's still necessary to be in a position to receive, and then orchestrated what is necessary in order to use that which was given for free. A car received for free will require a driver license. A house, a boat, land, all of it requires that the recipient be able to maintain and utilize it.
Apply this concept to the free gift of salvation. We do have to earn it in the sense that salvation is a lifestyle that requires constant willingness and submission to Gods will. I don't want to devalue salvation by describing it as a lifestyle because a saved person will have a Christ-like lifestyle as a result of salvation. I emphasize strongly here that the lifestyle itself is merely a result of salvation, among many other benefits, but the lifestyle is not the focus of salvation. Our soul is the focus of salvation, and it is what we need to bring close to God so that He will see a constant flow of submission and willingness to His will. Focus only on the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. All things will work out if we stay single minded on this only. It's not easy, but it's not a complex formula that can be worked out systematically. Trust and obey, for there is no other way.
Monday, February 15, 2010 3:30pm
