NOVEMBER SUNDAY 1st
Joshua 24:1-13
NIV (v13) – ‘So I gave you a land on which you did not toil and cities you did not build; and you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant.’
ESV (v13) – ‘I gave you a land on which you had not laboured and cities that you had not built, and you dwell in them. You eat the fruit of vineyards and olive orchards that you did not plant.’
We are coming to the end of the book of Joshua, I have missed out a large swathe from chapter 9 through to chapter 23, in these chapters the people of Israel advance further, taking cities and lands, we see the division of the land for the various tribes and the setting up of places of refuge. By the time we get here to chapter 24, the LORD speaks through Joshua, reminding the people of Israel of all that he has thus far done for them. He takes them right back to the time when Terah lived beyond the Euphrates and more importantly the moment when God called Abraham from beyond the river. The first thing to notice here is that it says that ‘they served other gods.’ (we will return to that thought tomorrow) The LORD speaking through Joshua continues to remind them of all that has taken place, about Isaac, Jacob, Egypt, Moses, the plagues, the Red Sea, the wilderness, the Jordan, the various kings they had encountered, the places they had won through battles, culminating with verse 13 ‘I gave you a land on which you had not laboured and cities that you had not built, and you dwell in them. You eat the fruit of vineyards and olive orchards that you did not plant.’
For a moment let us go back both to when God spoke here through Joshua and to the time when he spoke to Abraham (Abram as he was called at the time) beyond the river. It is way back in Genesis 12, ‘The LORD had said to Abram, Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you’ (verses 1-3) In arriving in our studies to Joshua 24, from that moment when God called Abraham to this chapter almost 700 years have passed and what we discover is that God has been absolutely faithful, true to his word, and he did make from out of Abraham a great nation, and here they are finally in the land that has been promise. But notice this, back in Genesis 12, verse 6 says that ‘Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh . . . Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, To your offspring I will give this land.’ Fast forward to Joshua 24 and where are they when God speaks to them through Joshua? Verse 1 says, ‘Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem . . .’ They were standing in the very place which God had promised!
God is faithful, he will always keep his word, despite what seemed to be set- backs, and problems or difficulties he will always bring to pass that which he has decreed and purposed. There was the problem of Abraham and Sarai not having a son, how could the promise be fulfilled, well the answer was not through man’s own attempts (Ishmael) it was through God’s miraculous intervention (Isaac). Later there was a famine in the land, but again God had worked it all out for them and Joseph who had been thrown into a pit and thrown into a prison, turned up at in the palace at the right place at the right time to come to their aid and get them into Egypt where there was plenty of food for them all, but again, it seemed liked it had all gone pear shaped when they became captives in the land, slaves to the Pharaoh and in a state of oppression. But pear shaped it was not, it was God shaped as the LORD already had his man for the moment, Moses, who because of his own unique set of circumstances at his birth would know all about the workings of the Pharaoh and the palace and God called him to go and to bring release to the people of Israel, and they are delivered, and they wander in the wilderness, the promise of God seeming to get frustrated at every turn and at every corner, but no, he is faithful and they enter the land and thus we are where we are at the end of Joshua.
I am reminded of a verse from the book of Job, ‘Then Job replied to the LORD: I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted. You asked, Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge? Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.’ (42:1-3)
God is faithful, what he has promised he will fulfil, and the wonder is that the story didn’t end in Joshua 24 because there was still more from the promise made to Abraham that needed to be fulfilled and we fast forward a few thousand years and visit a place called Bethlehem, where in a manger, a baby was born who was ‘Christ the Lord’ and as a result of his obedience, through his own set of exceptional circumstances which led to him going to Calvary, not only is the nation of Israel blessed, but all the nations of the world are being blessed as they come by faith to believe in him.
In our text we are reminded that the People of Israel had that for which they did not labour (toil) and cities they had not built, and they ate of the fruit of the vineyards and orchards that they did not plant. Isn’t this a wonderful picture of Calvary and salvation, we have that which we haven’t had to labour for because it is not of works, but by grace, we are dwelling in a house we have not built, for it is he who is building the Church, a spiritual house and we will dwell in a house forever which he is preparing for us, and we receive the fruit of salvation not because we have planted an orchard of trees, but rather because he hung on a tree. What a Saviour, showing to us again the faithfulness of God.