Here we intend to discuss how Jesus transplanted the
Promised Land, its blessings and the rest in the land to Himelf.
The Promised Land was a rather small country, not
particularly rich in minerals or oil, much of it lacking trees, and having a
chronic shortage of water.
But it has tremendous historical and religious
significance.
It also has symbolic meaning in the gospel, as the
type of the "rest," or the eternal inheritance, of those who believe
in Christ.
An everlasting possession
God gave our forefather Abraham the land of Canaan
“for an everlasting possession”
Genesis 17: 8 "Also I give to you and
your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land
of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God." (NKJV)
In Hebrew, the word everlasting means
never-ending.
God promised his descendants a permanent homeland
that would last into eternity.
However, the New Testament tells us in 2 Peter 3: 11, 12, that the world will be
destroyed by fire, burnt completely out of existence, after which the Lord will
bring about a new heaven and earth.
How can the “everlasting possession” to Abraham burn out completely?
How can the “everlasting possession” to Abraham burn out completely?
What is meant by eternal, if it will disappear one
day?
The fact is this land of promise was symbolic of a
place beyond the earth.
Abraham knew this in his spirit.
The Bible says that Abraham in Canaan always felt
alien; his heart longed for something beyond the land itself.
Hebrews 11: 9, 10
9 By faith he
dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with
Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise;
10 for he waited
for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. (NKJV)
Abraham could see the true significance of the
land blessing and he realized that the place isn’t the real possession.
The land was just an illustrated sermon of the
great blessing to come.
Abraham grasped the true meaning of the Promised
Land; he knew Canaan represented the coming Messiah.
The Holy Spirit enabled the patriarch to see down
through the years, to the day of Christ.
He knew that the meaning of his Promised Land
meant a place of total peace and rest.
And, as Abraham knew, this place of rest is Jesus
Christ himself.
The Promised Land
In the Old Testament, especially in the Book of
Deuteronomy, Israel’s blessings were spoken of as “rest,” while her curses were
spoken of in terms of “no rest.”
Rest was to be given in the Promised Land, while
no rest was to be experienced outside the land.
Abraham was promised a land
The promise that he would possess the land of
Canaan was repeated to Abraham on several occasions.
God also promised that in his seed, all nations
would be blessed.
The same promise was repeated to Isaac, and in a
dream to Jacob.
The children of Israel entered the Promised Land
under Joshua, and took possession of it and the land was distributed among the
12 tribes.
The promise of land, and Israel’s possession of
it, and their exile, is very prominent topics in the Old Testament.
The promise made to Abraham that in his seed all
nations will be blessed is called the gospel in the New Testament.
Galatians 3: 8
And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by
faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, "In you all the
nations shall be blessed." (NKJV)
All of the land of Canaan was promised to Abraham.
At that time the land was far greater in extent,
than he would actually need.
Yet he received none of it in his lifetime.
It shows that the promise must have some other
meaning than a literal view allows.
The land was a type of the "rest" which
is the eternal inheritance of the saints.
The land promise was literal as well as a type.
As we have seen before Abraham literally occupied
it and still looked for a better land, considering the literal land as a type.
Jesus as the Promised Land
Jesus is the
Promised Land!
In the New Testament, the land promise of the Old Testament
is fulfilled in Christ.
For a Christian, to dwell in the land of promise
is a figure, or shadow, of the blessings of living by faith in Christ, in
peace, and leaving the wilderness behind.
The
"wilderness" pictures the progressive journey of a believer to a
mature faith.
The kingdom of Christ is what Canaan represented.
It was something spiritual, which Christ
inherited.
In the New Testament, the Old Testament promises
concerning the land are reinterpreted.
The children of Abraham become those who believe
in Christ.
Romans 9: 8
That is, those who are the
children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of
the promise are counted as the seed.
(NKJV)
Paul argues that the name "Israel" does
not mean those who are literal descendants of Jacob, but it now applies to
those having faith in Christ.
"Israel" was thus redefined to include
Gentile believers who were brought nigh to the covenants of promise, by faith.
Thus the Promised Land represents the eternal
inheritance of the saints.
Now let us go through certain occasions where
Jesus claimed the fulfillment of the Promised Land in His life.
Jesus and Nathanael
John 1 :51
records the words of Jesus to Nathanael.
John 1: 51 And He said to him (Nathanael),
"Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and
the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man." (NKJV)
Here Jesus alludes to the story of the dream of
Jacob, in Genesis 28.
Jacob deceived his father and obtained the
blessing of his older brother Esau.
After the incident Jacob was fleeing from Esau's
fierce wrath.
On the way, at Bethel, in a forest, he slept and
dreamed of a ladder.
Jacob saw a ladder reaching to heaven, with angels
ascending and descending on it.
And in the same dream, he was promised possession
of the land.
The promise of the land was associated with the
ladder reaching to heaven, which connected the land with a spiritual and
heavenly purpose.
The promise to Jacob was that the land would be
given to him.
And not only would that, but the land of promise
be the site of a "ladder to heaven," for angels to ascend and
descend.
This reveals the true significance of the Promised
Land.
Jesus said to Nathanael that he would see the
angels ascending and descending on him.
Jesus implied that He replaces the land, or at
least, fulfils the land promise.
It is no longer the place, Bethel, that is
important, but the Person of the Son of Man.
It is in His Person that "the house of God
and the gate of heaven" are now found.
Where the Son of Man is the "heaven will be
opened" and the angels will ascend and descend to connect the heaven with the
earth.
In the New Testament Christ is the place where the
angels of God ascend and descend.
Now on the last day, the great day of the feast,
Jesus stood and cried out, saying:
John 7: 37 - 38
37 On the last day,
that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone
thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.
38 "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture
has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." (NKJV)
The land should provide water for drinking.
The land of Israelites felt an acute shortage of
water.
But here Jesus promises water to quench their
thirst.
He is exhorting the people to think of the land as
a spiritual symbol for the expected Messiah.
When the “land” becomes Christ, the “water” is the
Holy Spirit.
Give up farms
In another occasion Jesus spoke of giving up the
farm.
It would have been a shock to the Israelites to
consider giving up his farm.
But Jesus pronounced a blessing on those who give
up farms:
Matthew 19: 29
"And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father
or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name's sake, shall receive a
hundredfold, and inherit eternal life.
(NKJV)
Farms were the means by which God’s blessing was
poured out on His people in the Old Testament.
Farms were not to be given up, but were to be kept
as in inheritance.
Jesus pronounces a blessing on those who do give
up farms.
Jesus spoke of an eternal life for those who give
up their earthly farm.
It is because the “land” is fulfilled in Jesus
Christ.
Land is rest
The Promised Land was called a
"rest" for the children of Israel when they possessed it after
wandering 40 years in the wilderness.
But Hebrews 4:
8 says that Joshua did not give them rest, although they
possessed the land that was promised.
Or rather a “rest” remains even after the
inheritance of the earthly Promised Land.
Both the Sabbath day, and Israel’s possession of
the Promised Land, was types or "shadows" of the reality of the
"rest" we have in Christ by faith.
The Israelites in the wilderness under Moses hoped
for a future "rest" in the land of promise.
The church is promised a spiritual
"rest," which we may enter by faith.
Hebrews 4:1 Therefore, since a promise remains
of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of
it. (NKJV)
The Fourth Commandment is about keeping Sabbath as
“rest”.
The reason to keep Sabbath as “rest” is different
in Exodus and Deuteronomy.
Deuteronomy 5: 15 And remember that you were a slave in the
land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there by a mighty
hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to
keep the Sabbath day. (NKJV)
In Deuteronomy, the reason given for the Sabbath
day of rest was that the children of Israel were delivered from the slavery and
bondage of Egypt and brought into the Promised Land where they had rest.
Slavery of Egypt is restless work and the Promised
Land is rest.
The rest in Christ is freedom from the slavery of
sin.
Christians rest in Christ from all evil works in
which they were enslaved.
Although a Christian still struggles with sin, the
slavery is gone.
A Christian’s behavior can and must change.
Therefore, the rest promised to the Israelites in
the Promised Land symbolized the greater rest all believers have in Christ.
That’s why Hebrews 4:8 speaks of another rest.
Hebrews 4:8 For if Joshua had given them rest,
then He would not afterward have spoken of another day. (NKJV)
In relationship with land and rest, Jesus said:
Matthew 11:28 "Come to Me, all you who
labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (NKJV)
The Jews were in the land of promise, but they did
not have rest.
Jesus offered them rest, in Himself, not in the
land.
Rest is now something which is found in Christ,
not in a physical location.
We have a wonderful teaching here.
Joshua led the children of Israel into a land
where they could be at rest physically.
And yet, this rest did not last forever.
When the Israelites rebelled against God, their
land was repeatedly invaded by heathen nations such as the Philistines.
For all this, the Promised Land symbolized true
rest.
However, it was only a shadow or symbol of a
better day, a better rest.
In John 14,
Jesus promises to "prepare a place"
for his saints.
John 14: 2, 3
2 "In My
Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I
go to prepare a place for you.
3 "And if I go and prepare a place for
you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you
may be also. (NKJV)
The "place" Jesus is preparing
corresponds to the eternal inheritance of the saints.
It is somehow related to the promise of land that
was made to Abraham.
Preparing a “place” includes preparing the saints
to inherit it.
That was exactly what happened to the Israelites
in the wilderness.
Even after entering into Canaan, they had to
struggle to conquer and inherit the land.
They were prepared before they settled into the
“rest” of the land.
Conclusion
Lord Jesus Christ has come; Israel’s Messiah has
come.
The special place of God’s dwelling is now Christ
Himself, not a land, not a temple, not a tabernacle.
The land as a holy place has ceased to have any
relevance.
In the Old Testament, blessings, holiness,
promise, inheritance and so on were frequently connected with the Promised
Land.
In the New Testament they are never used in
connection with the territory inhabited by the Jewish people.
It is because the holiness of the land and all its
other attributes in the Old Testament thinking was transferred to Christ
himself.
The spiritual presence of the living Christ
sanctifies any place where believers are present.
The promise of Jesus to be present wherever his
people meet effectively universalizes the Old Testament promise of God's
presence among his people in their land.
Now the people of Jesus are everywhere and His
holiness is among them.
The Old Testament saints looked on the land of
Canaan as the special place of God’s presence and His blessing.
The New Testament teaches emphatically that the
dwelling place of God and the place of security, peace, and prosperity is none
other than Jesus Christ.
If the Old Testament saint delighted to be in the
land, the New Testament saint delights in being in Christ.
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