PromiseLand
Pt. 2 - Promise Participation
I. Introduction
We have had a good vantage point to reflect on what has taken place in the incredible exodus of over a million slaves who had been in brutal bondage for over 400 years in Egypt. History allows us to see from the perspective of overview. We get all the facts at once. However, can you imagine experiencing it firsthand? Think about each of the miracles they have witnessed. Week after week a plague that buckles the knees of an unchallenged ruler. And after 430 years of bondage, what must have seemed like almost overnight, slaves are now free and not only free, but now wealthy because on the way out of Egypt they plunder the Egyptians. All because they have a promise of their own land that flows with milk and honey. So, they begin the march to their promise.
I will state here in the beginning that God is not interested in you visiting your promise. That is all the spies taught us. When Moses sends the spies out to examine the Promised Land they come back after a visit but never inhabit the promise. In order for us to do more than have a promise we must learn these valuable lessons so that we can inhabit and live in promise land.
There are many occasions in this journey that today's lesson was taught to this group of slaves who are becoming soldiers. I want to examine two distinct times that I hope we will learn from. The classroom setting begins in the wilderness and the lesson concludes in the Promise Land. Let's see if we can see the contrast and learn. I am convinced that this lesson may be the most missed lesson and the result is it is also the one that when unlearned causes us to miss our promise.
Text: Exodus 14:6-10, 13-16 (TLB)
So Pharaoh led the chase in his chariot, 7 followed by the pick of Egypt’s chariot corps—600 chariots in all—and other chariots driven by Egyptian officers. He pursued the people of Israel, for they had taken much of the wealth of Egypt with them. Pharaoh’s entire cavalry—horses, chariots, and charioteers—was used in the chase; and the Egyptian army overtook the people of Israel as they were camped beside the shore near Piha-hiroth, across from Baal-zephon. As the Egyptian army approached, the people of Israel saw them far in the distance, speeding after them, and they were terribly frightened and cried out to the Lord to help them.
But Moses told the people, “Don’t be afraid. Just stand where you are and watch, and you will see the wonderful way the Lord will rescue you today. The Egyptians you are looking at—you will never see them again. The Lord will fight for you, and you won’t need to lift a finger!” Then the Lord said to Moses, “Quit praying and get the people moving! Forward, march! Use your rod—hold it out over the water, and the sea will open up a path before you, and all the people of Israel shall walk through on dry ground! (Just as a side note - some of us have prayed long enough. Quit meditating and march!)
Joshua 3:6-8, 14-17 (TLB)
Joshua said to the priests, “Take up the ark of the covenant and pass on ahead of the people.” So, they took it up and went ahead of them. And the LORD said to Joshua, “Today I will begin to exalt you in the eyes of all Israel, so they may know that I am with you as I was with Moses. Tell the priests who carry the ark of the covenant: ‘When you reach the edge of the Jordan’s waters, go and stand in the river.’”
So, when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carrying the ark of the covenant went ahead of them. Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge, the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away, at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan, while the water flowing down to the Sea of the Arabah (that is, the Dead Sea) was completely cut off. So, the people crossed over opposite Jericho. The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD stopped in the middle of the Jordan and stood on dry ground, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground.
Joshua 4:10-13 (NIV)
Now the priests who carried the ark remained standing in the middle of the Jordan until everything the LORD had commanded Joshua was done by the people, just as Moses had directed Joshua. The people hurried over, and as soon as all of them had crossed, the ark of the LORD and the priests came to the other side while the people watched. The men of Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh crossed over, ready for battle, in front of the Israelites, as Moses had directed them. About forty thousand armed for battle crossed over before the LORD to the plains of Jericho for war.
It is essential to the contrast in these accounts. In the wilderness, the Children of Israel are fleeing the Pharaoh's pursuing army and 2 things happen. First Moses says to them "stand and see the deliverance of the Lord." In fact, he says don't lift a finger. Then Moses, from the bank, stretches his staff over the Red Sea and the waters roll back and the people walk over on dry ground.
As they enter the Promised Land the account is different. In this account they come to the Jordan. Don't get it twisted this was a major obstacle. The ancient river was very different from the one we now see. Today, the river runs low because its water is used as a resource by the states of Israel and Jordan for drinking and crop irrigation. The flow of water has become so limited that the Dead Sea is drying up.
However, in the ancient world the Jordan River was intimidating. when Joshua stood at the Jordan River, it was at flood stage. It was Spring (March-April) towards the end of the rainy season (Joshua 4:19). Coupled with the melting snows of Mount Hermon, the Jordan River became a formidable obstacle. One historian estimates that the water would have been 10-12 feet deep and as much as one hundred and forty feet wide. They are instructed to step into the water. Also, notice that when they come out of the Jordan there are 40,000 men armed for war!
THE KEY to moving out of the wilderness and into promise land is participating in the promise!
I believe that the reason many of us prefer the wilderness even though it is hot, dry, miserable is that the wilderness in many ways is easier. I just have to duck my head, walk the same path, eat the same food and become satisfied with the same scenery. No thought. No fight (Moses only faced one battle in the wilderness - Joshua leads 13 battles in the Promised Land). Wilderness has a way of becoming comfortable because it is also the path of least resistance. And the . . .
PromiseLand requires us to move from welfare to warfare.
In the wilderness I don't have to do anything. In promiseland I will have to fight. In the wilderness I get divine handouts. In promise land, God doesn't always hand us a harvest instead He hands us a seed. He doesn't hand us a steak, instead He gives us a calf that must be fed, watered, nurtured, stewarded – becomes many steaks!
The contrast forces us to wrestle with the transition from aa "raise and stretch" miracle to a "go and stand." miracle. Go and stand" is so much tougher because it requires something of us. It challenges us to take the first step. It forces us to take a risk – the risk of being swept away. "Raise and stretch" says "Open up the way and I'll walk through it." "Go and stand" says "I'm stepping in and expecting you to part the waters." If we want to enter Promiseland we must transition from wanting "stand and see" victories to I'm "armed for war" victories. It means we must move from standing on the sidelines cheering God on to getting in the game and fighting for the victory that He has promised me. The reason some of us have not and perhaps never will move to Promiseland is that we won’t lift a finger. God will knock down walls, but we still have to enter and take possession.
Let me state it plainly. You will never experience or possess the promise until you quit waiting on a handout and instead head out into the battlefield to war for what is ours.
Promise requires participation. We must participate in the path of the promise. We can’t go our way and get His promise. Some of us want the promise but we won't participate in how to get the promise. The promise to blessing is tithe. No, I’m just going to give what I want to give. Wrong path. Won't participate. Still circling. Straighten out. Promise of a blessed relationship. However, there is a path. Too many of us want to go our own way. We aren't participating in the promise! The promises work, but we have an obligation to work the promises. The contrast teaches us that the wilderness is the land of miracles (mana, quail, clothes that don't wear out, pillar of fire, cloud) but the Promised Land is a miraculous land that requires us to participate!
I encouraged you last week to write down all the promises that The Promise Make and Promise Keeper has made you. Now I am asking you to review the list. What is your part? What steps of faith must you make? What steps of obedience must you take? What battle must you be willing to fight? What war must you be willing to wage? What path must you follow to get to the promise?
You will not obtain the promise until you participate in the promise!
