Joshua and Judges: The Abrahamic covenant is unconditional. Apostasy only prolongs its fulfillment; Jos 21:45.

Title: Joshua and Judges: The Abrahamic covenant is unconditional. Apostasy only prolongs its fulfillment; Jos 21:45.  

 

Announcements / opening prayer: Veterans Day

 

 

Jos 21:43 So the Lord gave Israel all the land which He had sworn to give to their fathers, and they possessed it and lived in it.

 

Jos 21:44 And the Lord gave them rest on every side, according to all that He had sworn to their fathers, and no one of all their enemies stood before them; the Lord gave all their enemies into their hand.

 

Jos 21:45 Not one of the good promises which the Lord had made to the house of Israel failed; all came to pass.

 

The promise given to Abraham, Moses, Joshua, and all Israel is fulfilled. Joshua was strong and courageous and God gave every land where his foot stepped into his possession.

 

It is true the Canaanites were not all exterminated, but any remaining Canaanites lived in great fear of Israel, and this would be the norm if Israel continued to live in fear of Jehovah. Anyone left in the land would have either fled or they would have become proselytized into worship of Jehovah. Yet the generation after Joshua did not "know the Lord, nor yet the work which He had done for Israel." (Jud 2:10)

 

Because of apostasy Israel never did come into undisputed possession of the whole of the promised land, to the full extent of the boundaries laid down in Num 34:1-12. It would take the second coming to do it.

 

The Abrahmic covenant is unconditional. It depends on God alone. Due to the fact that Israel had not come into possession of all of the land has led many to conclude that the covenant is conditional, depending not on God alone but on the spiritual condition of Israel, but this is obviously untrue according to the literal promise. God alone passed through the animal pieces in Abraham's vision. What is conditional is the timing of the promise. The Exodus generation should have been the ones to enter the land with Moses as the conquering commander, but their apostasy put the timing off by one generation. The God's kingdom should have been set up on earth during the generation of Christ's coming, but due to their apostasy that has been put off for many generations, and I for one, for selfish reasons, am glad about that. I would venture to think that you and I should be more mature spiritually by now, but alas, our times of apostasy, sinfulness, selfishness, pride, etc. has slowed us. Every single promise from God will come to pass. They are yes and amen. We will all be conformed to the image of Christ in eternity. How conformed to Him we become in time is up to us. Only we can impede it.

 

This fact is a reality and not a source of guilt. No one has ever advanced spiritually or in any other endeavor through guilt and self-condemnation. No one, not ever, not once. You might as well accept the fact of who you are in the flesh and then rest in who you are in Christ and then thank Him for having anything good in your life, knowing that only He can do the work in us and complete the work in us. We strive and hunger for righteousness, but it is only the Trinity who is causing the growth.

 

We should be perfect, knowing what we know and loving Who we love, but alas we are not. We are flawed. Sometimes we do what we actually don't want to do and don't do what we want to do. We could ask, did we really want to do that thing when we chose to do something else? The plain answer is no. If you loved to do it more than anything else then you would have done it. I recently heard that someone said they were too busy to go to church on Sundays. How do they not admit to themselves that they simply don't want to go? Yet I do not judge them. How do I not admit to myself that I just don't want to do God's will at times? I must. I am a flawed sinner.

 

Rom 7:24 Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?

 

Rom 7:25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.

 

Rom 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

 

Rom 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.

 

Rom 8:3 For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh,

 

Rom 8:4 in order that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

 

Victory in life is due to our faith in walking by means of the Holy Spirit. Our toil is not in vain because the promise is that He will give us the victory.

 

1Co 15:56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law;

 

1Co 15:57 but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

1Co 15:58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.

 

2Co 2:12 Now when I came to Troas for the gospel of Christ and when a door was opened for me in the Lord,

 

2Co 2:13 I had no rest for my spirit, not finding Titus my brother; but taking my leave of them, I went on to Macedonia.

 

2Co 2:14 But thanks be to God, who always leads us in His triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.

 

Our frustrations will always be shown to be unfounded, eventually.

 

They never conquered Tyre and Sidon for example, but due to this fact, the promises of God were no more broken on that account than was the promise of their blessing to the whole world which would be fulfilled in Jesus, as will the complete possession of the land.

 

Due to their apostasy the others within their lands and around them will be allowed by God to become strong again and they will greatly oppress Israel.

 

Don't lose your first love. If you do, you will find yourself again oppressed by old enemies.

 

Rev 2:1 The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands, says this:

 

Rev 2:2 'I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot endure evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false;

 

Rev 2:3 and you have perseverance and have endured for My name's sake, and have not grown weary.

 

Rev 2:4 'But I have this against you, that you have left your first love.

 

Rev 2:5 'Remember therefore from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you, and will remove your lampstand out of its place —  unless you repent.

 

It causes deep reflection to see that the Ephesian church had perseverance for His name's sake and had endured and not grown weary while in the mindset of having lost their first love. Did they forget why they were persevering? We see that they did forget from where they had fallen. Does He mean their fall from Eden or does He mean their fall from their first love? We would conclude that it is their fall from their first love that is in view. How could this have happened and yet they still endured for His name's sake?

 

A believer can fall in love with his own spiritual performance and divorce the spiritual life from the person of Christ. He can focus completely on his performance and forget that he is to love Christ first and foremost.

 

It's like a man who falls in love with a woman and that love raises within him a desire to be virtuous and honorable. Later on he begins to think that his love depends on his performance of virtue and honor when it is the other way around. He soon falls in love with performing over and above her. We can do this with the Lord.