Principle 2

Principle number two, the promises are our inheritance. That’s what God is bringing us into. There’s a very simple parallel between the Old Testament and the New. In the Old Testament under a leader named Joshua, God brought his people into the Promised Land. In the New Testament under a leader named Jesus—which in Hebrew is the same word as Joshua—God brings his people into a land of promises. Old Covenant, a Promised Land. New Covenant, a land of promises. Turn for a moment to Joshua 1 and just see the basic conditions which God gave to Joshua. Joshua 1, beginning at verse 2. The Lord is speaking to
Moses. He says:

“Moses my servant is dead . . .”

I think that’s very significant. I think before we come into something new there always has to be a death of something old. I think the spiritual life, in a certain sense, is like the seasons of the year. There is a continuing, ongoing cycle of seasons. We have spring, summer with its abundance. Then we have the fall, a time of withering. Winter’s a time of death. And then spring, the time of renewal and resurrection again. I find this is a principle that goes through our lives. God only blesses that which has died and been resurrected. When I was reasoning with the Lord about that because it didn’t fit in with my own personal wish and desire at that particular moment, I said, “Lord, why is it that you can only bless that which you resurrect?” I felt I got this answer. Because when God resurrects something, he only resurrects what he wants. We have given it to him and given him the right only to resurrect that which he wants. So, there had to be a death of Moses and of that whole generation, in a sense, before the new purpose of God could be unfolded through Joshua.

“Moses my servant is dead . . .”

Somebody said once God buries his servants and carries on his work. And God gave great attention to burying Moses, that’s a significant thing. I mean, he did it in person. That’s remarkable. Also, God is really an understanding person. He didn’t ask the children of Israel to act as though they didn’t care about Moses, he gave them 30 days to mourn for Moses and get it out of their system. Then he said, “Now, get ready, we’re going to move on.”

I find that that’s true. I find people who don’t know how to express grief and just bottle it up and it comes up later. It’s very unhealthy to adopt this spartan attitude, “I really don’t care.” You know, somebody has died but “We’ll carry on.” It doesn’t work. It’s much better to say, “I do care. It’s painful but I’ll get over it.”

“Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people . . .”

And as I was reading that verse this morning I noticed something I’d never seen before, that God wasn’t going to leave any of the people behind. We would be very content in most circles today if we could get 90 percent of the people over. God said everyone’s got to go. I really believe that’s how God views our situation today. Everybody’s got to go.

“. . . thou and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel.”

Notice the tenses. God says there, “I give them the land.” It’s present tense. At this moment I am giving them the land.

Then he says in verse 3:
“Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses.”

Once God gave it, it was given. But from then on it was in the past tense. “Now I’ve given it unto you.” And from that moment onwards, as I understand it, the land legally belonged to the children of Israel.

We have to distinguish between the legal and the experiential. Many times when you talk about being baptized in the Holy Spirit or receiving some further provision of God, you talk to somebody from a fundamentalist background and they might say, “I got it all when I was saved, there’s nothing more to get.” One way to answer that is, “If you got it all, where is it all?” Nevertheless, I do believe that, in a sense, it’s correct. Legally when you came to Christ you became an heir of God and a joint heir with Jesus Christ. The whole inheritance is legally yours.

There’s a great difference between the legal and the experiential. My little quip about this is if Joshua and the children of Israel had been fundamentalists, at that point they would have lined up on the east bank of the River Jordan, folded their arms, looked across the river and said, “We’ve got it all.” Legally correct, experientially incorrect. If they had been Pentecostals—this is just a sort of, you know, a parable—they would have crossed the River Jordan, lined up on the west bank, folded their arms and said, “We’ve got it all.” But they’d just gone one stage further, that’s all.

The interesting thing about the children of Israel taking the Promised Land is that God brought them in by a miracle. He gave them their first victory over Jericho by a miracle. After that, they had to fight for ever other thing they got. Don’t expect to get your inheritance without conflict. The way that they were to get it was “every place that you put the sole of your foot upon shall be yours.” So, legally it’s all yours. Experientially you’ve got to move in and assert your claim to what God has given you. Put your foot on it. I think that’s a very vivid picture for asserting, “God has promised this to me and I know lay claim to my promise.” So, the second principle is the promises are our inheritance.