We have been talking
about the purposes of the blessing. One
is fruitful multiplication. Today we are
talking about how the blessing is there to help us inherit the promises. Psalm
37:22 is referring to the Israelites and how they were blessed and empowered to
inherit the land God has promised them.
When they left there were 3 million people. The Bible says not ONE of them was sick, and
that they left with the wealth of Egypt. How does that work for us? We’re not headed for a physical promised
land. In Luke 2, Jesus says the promises
of God will change from physical to spiritual.
The promised land is our heart.
It is what produces all the good things in our hearts. The promised land contained and produced
everything the Israelites needed. That is
what Jesus does in our hearts now.
Just like the
promised land the Israelites went to, we find the promises of God are not
easily obtained. Sometimes God shows us
the picture of the promise, but He doesn’t show us right away the things
between here and the promise. Don’t we
appreciate things we had to fight to obtain more than those there without any
struggle? Why didn’t God tell the
Israelites about the struggles they would have to go through to get the
promised land? Of course He knew about
them, but they don’t matter because He has already won. That is all that matters to Him. Numbers 13 tells the account of the men sent
to explore the land. Note the
parenthetical note about Joshua’s name change.
Note that Hoshea, his old name, meant salvation, Joshua meant “the Lord
saves,” also the Hebrew root of Jesus.
Note Moses’ command to the Israelites.
God told him to have people explore the land, but Moses says
to determine what the people are like, whether the land is good or bad (is that
really a question?), whether the land is fertile or poor (really?), whether
there are trees... This is a reminder to
be careful and not live in a “wait and see attitude” about the promises. Not only did he seemingly have doubts, but he
potentially instilled these doubts into the community. They brought back a single cluster of grapes
that had to be carried by two men on a pole. They mention fear of the people. Caleb speaks up and says they can do it, but
others spread a bad report about the land among the people. Joshua and Caleb alone were allowed to enter
because of their faith.
Here are some key points about Joshua and Caleb (see why
church series for more on this). The
tabernacle was the place where the holy of holies was. The temple, which was a tent, was always set
up east to west (entrance on the east and holy of holies in the west). In Genesis, the tree of life and the tree of
knowledge of good and evil were on the west side and that the garden was sealed
off on the east side. When they travel
into the promised land, they go from the east side of the Jordan to the
west side. The twelve tribes of Israel would
camp around the tabernacle in a set pattern.
Joshua (same name as Jesus) was part of the tribe of Ephraim (which
means fruitful). They camped on the west
end of the tabernacle. Caleb was part of
the tribe of Judah
(Jesus is also a descendant of this tribe).
They camped on the east side of the tabernacle. Caleb is the one who eventually leads them to
defeat the giants in the land. Caleb
means to bark or shout like a dog, or attack.
We have giants, things in our heart, that we have to
overcome in order to experience the blessing—anger, depression, wrong thoughts,
misperceptions, lack of understanding of grace, etc. Sometimes we make deals with our giants
instead of letting God defeat them. We
have to remember we have already won.
Jesus already beat the giants for us.
If you’re having trouble defeating a giant, figure out the purpose on
the other side of that and focus on that.
To listen to the entire sermon go to http://ahwatukeechurch.com/ and click on
online media. To learn more about Living
Word Ahwatukee, visit http://ahwatukeechurch.com/.
