Exodus and The Kingdom of God (10) Beyond the Wilderness to the Land of Canaan

“Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” (Jos 1:7-9)
 
For the last few weeks, we talked about what it means for us to become new creations in Christ and how we should live as children of light.
 
Today, we’ll return to what we were originally talking about—the kingdom of God. Let’s briefly review what we’ve discussed. The kingdom of God is essential in understanding the gospel of Jesus Christ because the gospel exists for the greater purpose of God establishing His kingdom on earth.
 
The first thing Jesus proclaimed as He started His ministry in earnest was the good news of the kingdom of God. He came to the world to announce that the kingdom of God had come with Him. And in order to fulfill the good news of the kingdom of God, He was crucified and resurrected from the dead.
 
Then, what is the kingdom of God? The kingdom of God is not a spiritual place where only our souls enter after death. The kingdom of God has already come with the first coming of Jesus, is coming now through the work of the Holy Spirit, and will perfectly come true when Jesus returns.
 
In the Scriptures, the word “kingdom” refers to three things. First, it refers to the people ruled by God. Second, it’s where He places His people.  Third, and most importantly, the kingdom of God refers to His sovereignty and His reign.
 
So, the kingdom of God can be defined as wherever God’s people are as they willingly submit to His sovereignty. The kingdom of God is where His will is done as it is in heaven.
 
All the themes and stories in the Bible are related to the kingdom of God. The story of the entire Bible can be summarized as God building His kingdom through His people who believe in Him and follow Him.
 
After creating the world, God made human beings in His image so that they could rule over all of His other creatures with love and care. The mission given to the first humans was to take good care of the world as God’s representatives so that it may continue to be good in His sight, just as it was created.
 
Even when they failed because of sin, God didn’t give up on ruling over the world through His people. So, from the moment sin entered the world, God’s mission goes in two directions.
 
The first direction is to solve the problem of sin and make His people holy, and the second is to continue to rule over the world and build His kingdom through His people that He chose, cleansed, and set apart.
 
But these two ministries are not separate. In fact, the first mission, the salvation of people from their sins, exists to serve the second one, the establishment of the kingdom of God. That's why we can say that the gospel of Jesus Christ exists for the kingdom of God.
 
It’s true that Jesus came to the world to save us from our sins. He bore our sins and died on the cross so that all those who believe in Him can be freely justified by God’s grace. That’s the gospel of Jesus Christ that we should all know about.
 
But, at the same time, we should also know that Jesus had a bigger purpose in saving us. What Jesus really wanted to achieve through His death and resurrection was much greater than the salvation of individuals. He wanted to make us truly righteous people of God, reconciled with Him through His blood, who would willingly surrender our lives to God’s sovereignty and His will and strive to build His kingdom on earth through our obedience and good works.
 
So, since Jesus accomplished the work of salvation, now God reigns over the world, building His kingdom on earth through His people who are justified and sanctified through His precious blood and the power of the Holy Spirit. That’s why Jesus proclaimed as He began His ministry in earnest, “The time has come. The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mk 1:15)
 
And, when Jesus comes back, the kingdom of God will perfectly come true on earth, and we’ll reign with Him forever. That's the story of the whole Bible, and it's also the story of mankind.
 
The relationship between God’s salvation and His kingdom is also evident in the Israelites’ exodus and their conquest of the land of Canaan.
 
The reason God led the Israelites out of Egypt wasn't just that they were suffering because of slavery. What He really wanted to do through the people of Israel was to build His kingdom in a land full of wickedness.
 
At the time, the land of Canaan was full of evil. Evil practices such as sacrificing children in fire, incest, adultery, idolatry, homosexuality, and bestiality were pervasive in the land.
 
God used the Israelites to drive these practices out of the land and establish His kingdom based on His will. That's the essence of the Israelites' exodus and conquest of Canaan. So, the conquest of Canaan can be understood as God's counterattack against a sinful world, the expansion of His kingdom, and the spreading of the blessing of salvation through His people.
 
For the Israelites to fulfill this role, they would need to abandon the cultures, practices, and values of the surrounding nations and prepare themselves with the new identity God gave them, His character, and His word.
 
That's why God didn't take the Israelites to the promised land immediately after the exodus. He wanted them to be prepared as the people of His kingdom before they entered Canaan.
 
Most of the preparation took place at Mount Sinai. There, God did three important things that were essential to preparing the Israelites as His people.
 
First, God gave them His laws. God wanted to drive out evil practices and show His holiness through the lives of the Israelites, and that was only possible when they followed His holy commands.
 
The kingdom of God wouldn’t come when the Israelites physically defeated the Canaanites and took their land, but when the Israelites lived in holiness by following God's laws, which reflect God's holiness, rather than the cultures, customs, or ways of the world.
 
Second, God made a covenant with them through the Book of the Covenant and the blood of the covenant. God didn't just give the Israelites His law; He also established a special relationship with them through the covenant. Here, we see two important things God works through to build His kingdom on earth—His commands and His promise.
 
The weakness of laws is that their fulfillment depends on the person who receives it, not on the person who gives it. No matter how good the commandments God gave to the Israelites were, if they didn’t keep them, the law would become useless.
 
That's why God also uses covenants and promises along with commands to accomplish His purposes. Unlike a command, the fulfillment of a promise depends on the one who makes the promise, not on the one who receives it.
 
So God uses both commands and promises. The kingdom of God is established where God's people, brought into a relationship with Him through His covenant, obey His word and trust His promises.
 
Third, God gave the Israelites His presence through the tabernacle. God was always with the Israelites, even when they didn't have the tabernacle, but He commanded the Israelites to make the tabernacle so that they would know that His presence was with them. The tabernacle was a tangible way God manifested His presence among His people.
 
We also need God’s presence in order to truly live as His people. Even though we have His word and His promises, if we live without His presence, we’ll ultimately fail.
 
We cannot live out God’s word unless He gives us strength. We cannot defeat our enemies unless God fights with us. We cannot escape danger unless God protects us. We cannot find our way unless God directs our path. That’s the reason we should continue to acknowledge and practice the presence of God in our lives.
 
We can practice the presence of God by consciously making ourselves aware of His presence and living as if God is right in front of us. That’s what the term “Coram Deo” conveys; it means “before the face of God” or “in the presence of God.” To live in the presence of God is to understand that wherever we are and whatever we do, we are living under the gaze of God.
 
So, these are the three things that God gave the Israelites to prepare them to be His holy people before guiding them to the land of Canaan: His word, His covenant and promise, and His presence.
 
These, then, are the things that we should also seek in order to establish His kingdom according to His will. If we remain in God's presence, trusting in His promises, seeking His will, and obeying His word, God will establish His kingdom through our lives wherever we are. That’s the purpose for which He saved us from our sins. That’s the calling we’ve received as Christians.
 
Beyond the Wilderness to the Land of Canaan
All right. That’s what we’ve talked about for the last few months. So far, we've been looking at the meaning of the wilderness and the preparation we need to make as God's people. Now, before we shift our attention to the land of Canaan, there's one thing I want to point out.
 
In total, the Israelites lived in the wilderness for 40 years, but they originally weren't supposed to be there for that long. It took the Israelites one year to reach Mount Sinai after leaving Egypt, and after God prepared them to be His people at Mount Sinai, He didn't keep them in the desert for long. Rather, He led them straight to Kadesh Barnea.
 
Kadesh Barnea was like an entrance to the land of Canaan. There, God commanded the Israelites to enter and conquer the land. But the Israelites refused because they were afraid of the people who lived there. That’s why they wandered in the wilderness for 38 years.
 
What we can see from this is that God had originally planned to prepare the Israelites in the wilderness for about two years.. The 38 years were added simply because of their disobedience.
 
This means that preparing ourselves to become God's people and build His kingdom after we are saved shouldn’t take that long.
 
I said that the story of the exodus illustrates our spiritual journey of faith. In a spiritual sense, Egypt represents the ways of the world that we once followed as slaves of sin and Satan, the wilderness is the place of training to become people of the kingdom of God, and the land of Canaan refers to the world into which we are to go and build God’s kingdom by following His will, obeying His word, and fighting against evil.
 
Of course, the Israelites had to spend time in the wilderness before entering the land of Canaan. But as mentioned earlier, that time was only for preparation. We don't have to spend a long time in the wilderness. Training in the wilderness is important, but it is not the essential battle we are called to as God's people. The real battle we are called to fight is not in the wilderness, but in Canaan.
 
God didn't take the Israelites out of Egypt to keep them in the wilderness. He delivered them out of slavery in Egypt to bring them to the promised land in Canaan. In this way, God didn’t save us to keep us in the wilderness; He has called us to go into the land of Canaan, resist evil, and establish His kingdom there.
 
If we've been walking in faith for a while, it's time to move out of the wilderness and into the land of Canaan.
 
Hebrews 6:1-2 says, “Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction about cleansing rites, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.” (Heb 6:1-2)
 
Repentance, faith in God, cleansing rites, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgement are important subjects we need to know about as Christians.
 
But the author of Hebrews calls them “elementary teachings.” They are important to know, but our faith should not be limited to studying them over and over again. We should move beyond our elementary faith and pursue a more mature faith. In other words, our faith should not remain in the wilderness. If we have been trained in the wilderness, then we should quickly move on to the land of Canaan, because that's where God wants to send us.
 
The battle Israel fought in the wilderness was about whether they would follow God's will or follow the ways of the world and their own desires.
 
The question they faced in the wilderness was whether to eat the manna that God was giving them or to return to Egypt and eat the delicious food they once had eaten there. These are the kinds of thoughts that only people in the beginning stages of their faith have. It would be really sad if our faith stayed at that level and didn't grow throughout our lives.
 
How silly would it be if college students were still studying addition and subtraction? Addition and subtraction are important, but they're not what college students should be studying. They're only the basics. But many Christians still live out their faith like college students learning addition and subtraction over and over again.
 
As we grow older in our faith, the issues that we’re interested in should change. We need to move from caring about the things of the world to caring about the things that God cares about.
 
How long will you waver between the values of the world and the values of God's kingdom? Will you choose to invest the precious time God has given you today in reading, meditating, praying, and building your relationship with Him, or will you choose to invest it in worldly things like social media that only please you temporarily? Will you choose to use the time and resources God has given you for God or for yourself?
 
If we are still asking these questions, it means that our faith is still in its infancy. Hebrews 5:12-14 says,
 
“In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.” (Heb 5:12-14)
 
Now, it’s time for us to leave our wilderness and go into the world, where the real fight is waiting for us. It’s time for us to wean and start eating solid foods.
 
Our concern should not be whether or not to read the Bible today; that’s fundamental.  Rather, our battle should be in how we apply and live out what we learn from His word each day.
 
I want us to look back on our lives now. What do you care about most right now as a Christian? What are the battles you are fighting right now as a Christian? How much do you desire to see God's kingdom come in your life, and what are you doing to make it happen? We should leave the wilderness and go into the world to build God’s kingdom there. God is telling us,
 
“Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” (Jos 1:7-9)
 
I want us to renew our minds now. Rather than rebuilding the foundations of our faith, I want us to trust and rely on God who is always with us, and move boldly into the world wherever He sends us. I believe that is God's will for us today.
 
Let’s pray.
 
[Prayer]
Heavenly Father, we thank You for speaking to us today through Your word and enabling us to hear Your voice and know Your will.
 
Lord, do not let our faith remain in the elementary stages. Let us not remain in the wilderness, but help us move beyond immature faith to the full-grown faith that You really want us to have.
 
Let us no longer be torn between the world and You, but let our eyes be fixed on the very thing that You are looking at right now, so that we may go into the world with Your heart and establish Your kingdom everywhere we go.
 
We are so frail and so lacking. Please give us hearts that long for eternity so that we may always seek Your will.
 
May Your will be done and Your kingdom be established through our lives. Train us, send us out into the world, and enable us to fight boldly with You through the strength You give us. Thank You for always being with us.
 
We pray in the precious name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
 
[Reflection Questions]
1) What battle are you fighting right now as a Christian? Is that battle in the wilderness or in Canaan?
 
2) Is your faith a rudimentary faith or a mature faith? What do you think you need in order to move beyond the battle in the wilderness and into the land of Canaan?