"When
the Lord your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you—a land with large, flourishing cities you
did not build, houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide,
wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant—then
when you eat and are satisfied, be careful that you do not forget the Lord, who
brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery."Deut:6:10-12
As
the people of Israel came near to the land Canaan which had been promised
to their Fathers Abraham, Issac and Jacob by the Lord God ,
Moses, the one who led Israel, and bore with them from the slave pits of
Egypt to the Red Sea crossing and the years in the Wilderness, now looks out
upon a land that had so many advantages prepared for Israel by the Lord God,
yet, Moses himself would not enter in, at best he could gaze out
and see from a distance the land that awaited beyond the River Jordan.
A
Land Prepared
This
land held so much for them and it was theirs for the having.
"When
the Lord your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you—a land with large, flourishing cities you
did not build, houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide,
wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant—then
when you eat and are satisfied, be careful that you do not forget the Lord, who
brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery."Deut:6:10-12
This
land had homes and agriculture, and abundant access to fresh
water. The Promised Land had an abundance of advantages all for
Israel. It was a land prepared for them; the Lord God only cautioned them
to remember that it was Him who accomplished all this for them.
Joshua
even at the end of his life recalls the same admonition to the people .‘Then
you crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho. The citizens of Jericho fought
against you, as did also the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites,
Girgashites, Hivites and Jebusites, but I gave them into your hands. I
sent the hornet ahead of you, which drove them out before you—also the two
Amorite kings. You did not do it with your own sword and bow. So I gave you a
land on which you did not toil and cities you did not build; and you live in
them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant.’ Josh:24:11-13
Israel
was to remember who it was that gave them so great a blessing and not to forget
their God.
The
Land of Promises
These
admonishments to Israel to walk fully within the Promised land
with their hearts always inclined toward to the Lord God, this speak
to we Christians today as well.
We
Christians Walk not in a Promised Land but rather a Land of
Promises, prepared for each and all who would but freely receive them.
This
is the land that many of the Old Testament personalities truly sought to see,
yet, like Moses, could only view them from afar off as they peered down
the ages beyond their time and ultimately on into Eternity, under the
inspiration of the Great God.
"All
these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive
the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance,
admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such
things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been
thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to
return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one.
Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city
for them." Heb:11:13-16
This "county" which
they knew was out there maybe not fully grasping how the Lord would
accomplish it, yet , they sought it and believed that in the end they
would walk within this "country" .
Just Glimpses
of It
From
the very beginning with the promises to the Patriarchs and the establishment of
Israel. From the Priesthood and the Throne of David, to the words of the
Prophets all these things looked ahead and to the coming of Jesus the very one
who takes us and guides us to the land of Promises.
Yet
all who came before us, just caught glimpses of this realty, that Jesus was and
is come. They wanted to understand but never were given this blessing fully as
we who are Christians. We Christians are able to walk in the land of
Salvation.
"Concerning
this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you,
searched intently and with the greatest care," 1Pet:1:10
In
This Life as Well
We are
even now able to experience so much of what the Lord has for us. this These
promises are for us even now not just in the eternity to come. We do not have
to sit and gaze upon this land at a distance, we are invited into it even now,
where we can walk the eternal breath of its limitless boundaries. We can climb
to the hill tops and reap form the abundance of the vineyards and fields
and drink from the deep wells. This truth, that all that our Lord has for us,
is already ours in Jesus and will be ours fully in the eternity to come.
All of this all because of Jesus.
When
we are led to this land of Promises so much of it is for us even now. The
Apostle St. Peter asking our Lord regarding the reward of being a follower of Jesus,
receives an answer that encompasses this life here and now upon the Earth and
into the Kingdom.
"Then
Peter spoke up, “We have left everything to follow you!”
“Truly
I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or
mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to
receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters,
mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come
eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last
first" Mk:10:28-31
This
encouragement speaks to us that, even here "in this present age". We
Christians can partake of blessings that are ours in our Lord Jesus Christ.
These blessings of the promises are far more than just material, that is
wealth, bricks and mortar, position, titles, or fame.
What
our Lord has for each of us goes beyond the material, that is, the things that
will waste away. Jesus is talking about about a relationship which is far
more than we could ever hope for.
Our
Lord wants each of us to walk fully in the promises which He has for us,
but above them all He wants us to know Him. All eternal life is summed
up in Jesus in terms of relationship, that is knowing Him.
"Now
this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ,
whom you have sent."Jhn:17:3
In and
by Jesus we find more than we can even begin to understand. In Jesus we find
that land of Promises opened to each and all through faith alone by
grace alone in Christ alone or as it is said in the Latin solus
per gratiam per fidem in Christum,
Homes
Prepared
Before
in the land beyond the Jordan the people of Israel were towns and villages with
homes built for them, prepared and waiting for them to occupy and dwell with
in.
"cities
you did not build, houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not
provide"
These
dwelling were theirs. In the same way our Lord has is providing a home for all
who will receive it awaiting each of us, this home is filled with eternal
blessing, as the towns were for Israel.
“Do
not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God ; believe also in me. My
Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that
I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where
I am".Jhn:14:1-3
Jesus
is, even now, preparing this place for us to spend eternity in with Him, an
extended community of fellowship and worship without end where we are want
loved and included, this very community is pictured ultimately in the New
Jerusalem which is in preparation.
"
I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God,
prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband." Rev:21:2
The
True Vine
In the
culture of that time, and in the nation of Israel, the
idyllic imagery of the Promised land and the life of the people was
typified and viewed as being under the vine and fig. Micah the Prophet was
inspired to uses this image to present the people of Israel finally
experiencing this long-sought contentment.
"Everyone
will sit under their own vine and under their own fig tree, and no one will
make them afraid, for the LORD Almighty has spoken."Mich:4:4
This
is contentment and peace being at rest having every need of the whole person
met, living without fear. For Christian this is found in the Promises
of and in Jesus Christ, the true vine that we might sit under and
being at rest. It is ours and for us if we are careful not to neglect what
He so freely offers us.
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
“I am
the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear
much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you
are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up,
thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in
you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my
Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my
disciples" Jhn:15:1-8
Deep
Wells
As we
transverse the land of Promises in Christ we find that as we live and walk
this land and set our hearts and minds upon Jesus the deep wells of the Holy
Spirit , wells, which we did not dig, that is they are for us without
works, that is by grace, here through revelation about Jesus our thirst
is quenched
The
Prophet Isaiah, looking ahead to the offering of the Holy Spirit to all who
would receive Him through Jesus, wrote.
"Come,
all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come,
buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost" .Isa:55:1
Standing
in the Temple courts Jesus invites us to become outlets for the eternal flow of
the Holy Spirit
"but
whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I
give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life." Jhn: 4:14
The
Holy Spirit will touch our lives and he will speak to us regarding our Lord Jesus,
disclosing to us all the Promises that are found in Jesus.
But
when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for
He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak;
and He will disclose to you what is to come. "He will glorify Me, for He
will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. "All things that the Father
has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to
you." Jhn: 16:13-15
We are
invited to enter this Land of Promises that is found in only in the Lord Jesus.
It is a land of life eternal and without bounds, but not just for some day
in the eternity to come, but we can experience it in and by Jesus. Jesus came
that we might have a life that is more than we can imagine.
"I
have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."Jhn:10:10b
Even
now as we walk upon the Earth , we are found in our Lord in the heights of
Heaven in the glorified resurrected humanity of Jesus; in Jesus we share
in the Kingdom and all that is His except his deity.
"Praise
be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the
heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ" Eph:1:3
"But
because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,made us alive with
Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been
saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly
realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the
incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ
Jesus.' Eph:2:4-7
Yes
The
Great God has offered each and all the opportunity to enter into this land
of Promise, He willingly desires us to live in them and affirms them to us in
His Son Jesus.
"For
no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ.
And so through him the "Amen" is spoken by us to the glory of
God" 2Cor:1:20
When
we hear the call of God in message of Salvation presented in the Gospel and
come to believe in Jesus, we are taking hold of promises that stretch back to
the Patriarchs and joining with them to receive them. The very same
ones that they embraced and shared in.
All
that the Great God has for them, and we all, if we will but freely receive
them and accept His love freely offered.
We
need not be as Moses who viewed the Promise land but did not enter, we can
instead enter and walk the length and width of this eternal land of promises.
"As
far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies for your sake; but as far as
election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, for God’s
gifts and his call are irrevocable" .Rom:11:29
Our
Lord has prepared this for us, and it has awaited us, and all who will receive
it, from the very beginning. What we can walk in today is what all who went
before long to see and understand.
"Then
the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my
Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation
of the world."Matt:25:34
It
is our Lords' great desire that we all enter the promises which He has
affirmed to us through His Son. Jesus is the ultimate affirmation to us that
God's love is to us and for us, that He invites us to enter in and walk the
length, breadth and hight of all that His Son has died that we might have, to
live in a vibrant relationship with our God, we can have this even now for each
and all who will accept it. We enter not a Promised land but a land of Promises
in His Holy Son Jesus
Benediction: May we each enter full that Land of Promises found only in our Lord Jesus Christ, today, tomorrow and forevermore and Amen .
Rev. Todd Crouch, Pastor
Topinabee Community Church
Topinabee, Michigan
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