The Life Of A Believer - Seizing The Promise

Deuteronomy 31:3-6 “Yahweh your God Himself crosses over before you; He will destroy these nations from before you, and you shall dispossess them. Joshua himself crosses over before you, just as Yahweh has said...Yahweh will give them over to you, that you may do to them according to every commandment which I have commanded you. Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for Yahweh your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you.”

After the Exodus, after turning back at Canaan’s border, and after spending forty years camping in the wilderness; Israel was once again at the threshold of their promise. None of the original whiners and complainers were there to see this day. Not one of the ten fearful spies were still living, nor were any of the people who listened to them. Out of that entire generation, only two men remained - Joshua and Caleb. Every other person standing at the edge of the Jordan River that day grew up in the desert.

These were the group of kids that watched God show Himself on Mount Sinai. They were the little ones who grew up seeing God’s glory over the tabernacle. They knew nothing else but the miraculous provision of manna every day. They watched the older generation drop like flies in the desert when the consequences of their sin arrived. Over and over again they learned about the time when their parents almost made it into their promised land. And as they grew up, they learned that they were the ones who were going to possess what their parents turned away from.

Now, Moses was on the way out and Joshua was on the way in. Now they stood at the edge of what God had waiting for them all along. This time, they were prepared. Listen to their words to Joshua, “All that you command us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. Just as we heeded Moses in all things, so we will heed you. Only the Lord your God be with you, as He was with Moses. Whoever rebels against your command and does not heed your words, in all that you command him, shall be put to death. Only be strong and of good courage.” They weren’t playing around this time! They were willing to execute anyone at the slightest hint of rebellion against Joshua. Why? Because they refused to lose their opportunity to possess what was theirs!

Joshua truly did lead them to victory. Seven Canaanite nations were destroyed or subjugated. Thirty of their fortified cities were taken and one of them (Jericho) was leveled and abandoned. In a single battle, Joshua and the Israelites wiped out five Amorite kings with their armies. After that they proceeded to conquer southern Canaan. After this, no fewer than fifteen kings from the north joined forces and attacked Israel. Joshua wiped out their combined forces - then proceeded northward and captured all of their land.

A beautiful summary of Joshua’s leadership is found in Joshua 11:15 - “As the Lord had commanded Moses his servant, so Moses commanded Joshua, and so Joshua did. He left nothing undone of all that the Lord had commanded Moses.”

Now, a lot of people have the idea that the Promised Land is symbolic of Heaven. That’s why we hear songs about “crossing over the Jordan” and coming to the pearly gates. But let me ask you, does a lifestyle of battle and conquest sound like Heaven to you? Why did things occasionally go wrong for the Israelites (think Ai) if they were supposed to be symbolizing Heaven for us? Canaan wasn’t a picture of Heaven, it’s a picture of the promises that God has made to us here on Earth!

Just as it was for the Israelites, our promises have to be fought for. The Israelites fought seven nations of people for theirs - but Ephesians 6:12  tells us that we are not fighting against flesh and blood. Our enemies aren’t natural, they’re spiritual. They are the spirits of this world’s system that are trying to keep us out of the promises of God on this earth.

When the Israelites were led out of Egypt, they were led by a savior. They didn’t have to do a thing to be rescued except apply the blood of the Passover. That is just like salvation. We were saved without having to do anything except receive the blood of Jesus to wash away our sin.

When the Israelites were in the wilderness, they were faced with their worst enemy - themselves. They struggled with their own craving, discontent and rebellion. Still, Moses led them patiently and God never left them. Even when they refused to go where He was taking them, God still had mercy and took care of them. Most Christians are in this place right now. They are still their own enemies. They’ve never been victorious over their flesh. They’ve continued to crave the things that they were delivered from. And they’ve only known Jesus as their Savior.

But there’s more to this life than our salvation and our struggle with our flesh. Jesus wants to become more than our Savior. If we ever want to obtain the promises of God that the kingdom of darkness is trying to keep us out of - we have to recognize Jesus as our Commander. You see, even though we were saved freely by grace - in battle, obedience equals victory. Only when we obey the Word of our Commander will we start to live a victorious Christian life.

Are there promises in your life that you have yet to possess? Are you still finding yourself to be your own worst enemy? Have you been living a less-than-victorious life? Then, my friend, it’s time to move past receiving Jesus as your Savior, and receive Him as your Lord! Read His Word, recognize His commands, and follow His lead. Then, it won’t matter what spirit tries to keep you from His promises! Let everything in this world go to pieces, but you’ll stay on top!

Pastor Tracy Harris says it this way, “When you make God’s enemies your enemies, He’ll make your battles His battles.”

Where Did Jesus Go?

It’s been taught for years. It was in the apostles creed of the catholic church. Many well-known preachers still believe it. When Jesus died, He went to Hell for us, fought with the Devil, and took his keys away from him. Sure, this makes for a dramatic message - but it’s not in the Bible! Scripture shows us exactly what Jesus did between the cross and the resurrection, and Hell was never part of that! This has always been a man-made teaching that played on our emotions!
 
Let’s look at a little background first.
 
Whenever anyone died in the Old Testament, they went to a place called Sheol, located deep in the belly of the earth.
 
Psalm 18:5 - “The sorrows of Sheol surrounded me; The snares of death confronted me.”
 
Psalm 116:3 - “The pains of death surrounded me, And the pangs of Sheol laid hold of me; I found trouble and sorrow.”
 
At first glance, it seems like Sheol is actually Hell. This gives support to the belief that Jesus went to Hell, since Psalm 16:10 prophesied about Jesus, “For You will not leave my soul in Sheol, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.” So we can clearly see that Jesus was in Sheol...so doesn’t that mean that He did go to Hell?
 
Well...no. When we read the story of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31), we find out that there are two parts of Sheol. There is “Abraham’s Lap” - also known as “Paradise.” It was where the righteous dead went. It was a place of comfort. It was a place where the righteous went to wait for the resurrection. The other part of Sheol was “Hades” - also known as “Hell.” It was where the wicked went after death. It was a place of torment, a place of fire, where a single drop of water was considered comfort.
 
The Bible says in Ephesians 4:9 declares that Jesus descended to the lower parts of the earth after His death. So which one of these compartments did He go to? The answer is so simple, everyone knows it. In fact, Jesus tells us in His own words! When He spoke to the repentant thief on the cross, do you remember what He said? “This day, you will be with Me in Paradise.”
Jesus went straight from the cross to Paradise! He never went to Hell!
 
While Jesus was in Paradise, the Bible says in 1 Peter 4:6, “For this reason the gospel was preached also to those who are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit” and again 1 Peter 3:19-20, “He went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly were disobedient...”
 
While Jesus was in Paradise, He preached the Gospel, the Good News of what He just did, to the Old Testament saints. He let them know that the promise that they were waiting for had come to pass at last! But remember the story of Lazarus and the rich man? There was a chasm between Paradise and Hell that no one could cross - but there was communication going on back and forth! So while Jesus preached to the righteous dead, the “spirits in prison, who formerly were disobedient” were also able to listen. For them, though, it was anything but good news! The promise that they had rejected had come to pass...and they were still on the wrong side.
 
After three days of preaching the Gospel to the righteous men and women in Paradise, Jesus broke the power of death by rising up from the grave! He “led captivity captive” according to Ephesians 4:8. When He resurrected, He brought all the righteous men and women with Him! For a little while, until He went back to Heaven, the saints of the Old Testament were walking around on earth! Don’t believe me? Look it up for yourself - it’s in Matthew 27:52-53!
 
Now, the only part of Sheol being used is Hell. 2 Corinthians 5:8 tells us what happens to the righteous dead now, “to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.” Now we go straight to Heaven!
 
This may not seem like a crucial issue. And as I said before, many good preachers still believe that Jesus went to Hell. But it strikes at the heart of Jesus’ sacrifice - was the cross enough? Did Jesus do everything He needed to do on the cross, or did He still have to go to Hell and beat the devil?
 
Colossians 2:14-15 is clear about where Jesus’ victory over Satan and his army took place, “Having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.” It was at the cross! When He bore our sin, when He bore our sickness, when He died in our place - that was the victory He came for!
 
As He breathed His last breath on the cross, He told us that was enough! Remember what He said! “It is finished!” Everything He was going to do for us was done at that moment!

The Sound Of Victory

In 2 Kings 6 we see a desperate situation. Israel was ruled by Ahab’s wicked son Joram. Most of the godly Israelis had emigrated to the southern kingdom of Judah, to the righteous kings Asa and Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 15:9). At the time of Elijah and Ahab’s showdown, there were only 7,000 godly people in the entire country of Israel. Fast forward about twenty years and things hadn’t changed much. The natural son of Ahab - Joram - and the spiritual son of Elijah - Elisha - were still locked in a battle for the hearts of God’s people.

Because of Israel’s backslidden condition, God had begun to allow other nations to begin swallowing them up. The nation of Syria was one of them, and in 2 Kings 6 they had laid siege on the capital city of Samaria. Still, God goal was reconciliation, not retribution. His desire was that his wayward people would return to Him. But the more they refused, the more desperate their situation became.
Food was scarce in Samaria. The Syrian army closed around the city like a clamp. No one could come or go. But God was about to make a power-play to wake his people up!

As it always does, God’s Word came first. Elisha prophesied that within 24 hours everything would change. Food would be so plentiful that any amount of money would buy it. No one believed him though, and no one moved.

Outside the city, sat four lepers. If the people inside the city had it bad, can you imagine life for a leper at that time? These were throwaway people. They weren’t allowed inside the city, and who would give precious food to someone who was just going to die anyway? If the word to describe conditions inside Samaria was desperate, the word for these four lepers would be hopeless.

The very evening that Elisha prophesied, these four lepers decided to do something about their situation. They said, “Why should we stay here and die? If we go back into the city, we’ll die; if we stay here we’ll die. Let’s go to the Syrians. If they have pity on us, we’ll live. If they kill us, we’ll die quickly at least.

So they got up at twilight, as the sun was setting and went to the Syrian camp. When they got there, things weren’t at all like they were expecting. No one was in sight! Not one soldier, not a man or woman anywhere! Every tent they entered was deserted! Not one Syrian was in the entire area! But...all their stuff was! The four lepers cleared out one tent, taking all that stuff and hiding it. Then they came back and did it again!

On their third trip back, they realized that they weren’t exactly doing the right thing. All of Samaria was starving to death, and they were hoarding the abandoned supplies. So they went and told the king in Samaria. Within hours of when the lepers told King Joram, the markets in Samaria were full of Syrian supplies!

Why did the Syrian army just disappear? What was it that made them leave everything they had behind? 2 Kings 7:6-7 says that “God caused them to hear the noise of a great army.” So, rather than staying and fighting whatever this massive army was, they turned and ran. They ran so hard that they stripped off everything they had on them so they could run faster! They actually left a trail of dropped supplies as they ran, not to mention everything that was still in their camp!

What I want you to see is in verse verse 7: “They arose and fled at twilight.” The same time the four lepers decided to get up and do something! God took the sound of four weak, starving lepers and turned it into the sound of a massive army! All He was looking for was someone to do something!

Now let’s talk...are there situations in your life where you feel like you’re starving? Does anything in your life feel hopeless? Maybe you have issues that have been going on in your family for far too long. Maybe your heart is broken for your city or your neighborhood and you wish something would change. Maybe you want to see God’s power and glory poured out in your church. Whatever it is, take a lesson from these lepers and just do something! If you do nothing, then nothing will change. But, if you get up and start moving you’ll get results! Maybe this means witnessing one more time to your loved ones. Maybe it’s praying a little more aggressively. Whatever it is you’re believing God for, don’t give up!

You may see what you’re doing as weak and ineffective, but if only you could hear what it sounds like to your enemy! God is able to turn the weak, tired efforts on your part and turn them into victory! He’s just looking for someone to start moving!