OUR PROMISED LAND

 

 We are about to study the book of Joshua this week. Joshua is one of those Old Testament figures we don’t talk about much yet there is so much to admire about the man. I feel he is overlooked to our detriment because he too, like Moses, was a prototype of Christ:

“Joshua, the son of Nun, of the tribe of Ephraim, was first called Oshea or Hoshea,….[Numbers 13:16], which signifies saved, a saviour, or salvation; but afterwards Moses, guided no doubt by a prophetic spirit, changed his name into….Yehoshua or Joshua, which signifies he shall save or salvation of Jehovah; referring, no doubt, to his being God’s instrument in saving the people from the hands of their enemies, and leading them from victory to victory over the different Canaanitish nations, till he put them in possession of the promised land…in the New Testament he is expressly called….Jesus [see Acts 7:45; Hebrews 4:8].” (Clarke, Bible Commentary, 2:3). In other words, in the original Hebrew both Joshua and Jesus were the same name.” (see Old Testament Student Manual Book 1 p 236)

As a preface to the Ten Commandments which Jehovah gave to Moses he made it clear why they were given: “I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of BONDAGE.” (Exodus 20:2). The operative word here is ‘bondage’. It has reference to the Ten Commandments which are meant to give Israel freedom. If Israel cleaved to obedience of the Law, they would never again be in bondage, physical or most importantly, spiritual. 

Thereafter, Moses made it a point to define the deliverance from Egypt as deliverance from ‘bondage’ (Det 6:12; 8:14; 13:5). After Jehovah confirmed to Joshua that he is to take charge of the Tribes and lead them to the promised land, He charged him to make the law the basis of all he did. He was not to vary from it or depart from it, all that he spoke was to conform to it, and he was to meditate upon it constantly (Joshua 1:5-8). Joshua followed these rules to the letter and like Moses, reminded Israel that they had been delivered from ‘the house of bondage’ in the land of Egypt (Joshua 24:17). He understood clearly what the God of Israel had done which made him a spiritual leader of God’s people as well as the physical one.

At the onset of conquest of the promised land, the mighty Jehovah spoke to Joshua and told him he is to conquer all the land from Lebanon to the river Euphrates (Joshua 1:4). In actuality, this meant the region south and southwest of the Lebanon mountains, north and east of Egypt, east of the Mediterranean coastal plain and west of the Arabian desert (OT Student Manual 1, p 236). In other words, the land that lay before Joshua was massive. Overwhelming, isn’t it? But Jehovah issued an admonition to Joshua to ‘be strong and of good courage’ three times (Joshua 1:6,7,9) assuring him: ‘I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee….be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest’ (vs 5,9).

And then the promise: Joshua was told that he must adhere strictly to the law of Moses and he shall have success (v 8) but not just any success, he was promised that his success would be so great that there shall not any man be able to stand before him all the days of his life (v 5). This Joshua did, obeying all of the Lord’s instructions with exactness (fascinating examples of this to look out for in his story). The result of his meticulous obedience?  A success unsurpassed:  the Lord was with Joshua; and his fame was noised throughout all the country’ (Joshua 6:27).

We, of the House of Israel, are standing on the earth which is our ultimate promised land. This earth will one day be redeemed and sanctified from all unrighteousness that it may be prepared for the celestial glory, that the bodies who are of the celestial kingdom may possess it forever and ever (D&C 88:17-20). This is our promised land. This is our ultimate forever home. 

Before each of us is the vastness of our mortal probation fraught with challenges and trials to conquer and overcome. It is also the ‘house of bondage’ from which the Saviour has delivered us through His atoning sacrifice if we will but obey the commandments, the path to unsurpassed freedom.....

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Artist Unknown)

INHERITANCE

 

“Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.”  (3 Nephi 12:5)

“As things are now constituted, the meek do not inherit the earth; even He who said of himself, “I am meek and lowly in heart” (Matt 11:29) had in fact no place of his own to lay his head. This world’s goods were of little moment to him, and he had neither gold nor silver nor houses nor lands, nor kingdoms……The meek – those who are the God-fearing and the righteous – seldom hold title to much of that which appertains to this present world.

“But there will be a day when the Lord shall come to make up his jewels; there will be a day when Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the faithful of ancient Israel shall dwell again in old Canaan; and there will be also an eventual celestial day when ‘the poor and the meek of the earth shall inherit it.” (D&C 88:17)

There are some of us, if not many of us who do not own a house and therefore not an inch of this earth is ours. As much as some of us try to cling to our earthly abode and our possessions, we are all, regardless of our possessions, just passing through. We are like the people of Enoch’s city who felt like strangers and pilgrims on this earth (D&C 45:11-13). Jacob described the early Nephites as ‘a lonesome and a solemn people, wanderers, cast out from Jerusalem and born in tribulation and wilderness (Jacob 7:26), and Paul described the faithful ancients who ‘died in faith, not having received the promises…and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth’ (Hebrews 11:13).

This is not our true home but there will come a day when all that will change. In the Millenial reign for one, there will be no poor among us and we will all own something of this earth. But that is just the beginning, when the Millenium ends, this earth will be sanctified and celestialized and ‘crowned with glory, even with the presence of God the Father….that bodies who are of the celestial kingdom may possess it forever….(D&C 88:18-20). I want to own a parcel of that earth.

I have not owned a home for the past 30 years. Some years ago when I was drowning in self-pity trying to figure out where I could live next, I remembered the Saviour and His lustre-lack earthly life. It gave me so much comfort to know that I was not less because I had no home of my own. I wrote the following poem in gratitude of His loving care of me for He has provided for me better than I could ever have done on my own. Until I kneel at His feet on the celestialized earth, I will wander….

 

You send me wherever You want me to go;

Over plains, seas and roughest roads.

I am dismayed I have

To wander in search of my bed;

Then I remember foxes had holes

And the birds of the air had nests

But You had nowhere to lay down Your head.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art by Joseph Brickey)