A five-part series: February 20th - March 20th, 2022
The land of Canaan, the “Holy land,” the “promised land”… Heaven!
In the Lord’s Word, this “promised land” is a symbol of what “heaven” inside of us looks like. When the Lord called Abram and he was shown the land, there was no way he could have taken possession of it. He was just a nomad with a few family members and servants. Instead, it was promised to his descendants who were to number as the sand on the seashore, or as the stars in the sky! His family needed to grow and develop before they would have the strength and courage to conquer the land; just as we will need to grow and learn about the life of heaven so that we may reach that promised land.
Heaven is granted only to those who know the way to it and walk in that way. This way can be known to some extent, too, from knowing the character of those who constitute heaven, and from knowing that no one becomes an angel or comes into heaven except one who brings an angelic character with him from the world. Present in an angelic character, moreover, is a knowledge of the way from walking in it, and a walking in the way through a knowledge of it. (Divine Providence 60)
Heaven is a place or a state of mind where the abundance of love fill us with peace, fantastic joy, and great satisfaction. If this is what we are promised, as Abraham was promised Canaan, it is pretty obvious that something is getting in the way of us realizing those blessings. How can there be peace when there is war and hatred? How can there be joy when there is utter sadness? How can there be satisfaction if more time is spent bandaging the wounds life in this world can bring, than in useful service?
In this five-week sermon series, we will follow the story of Joshua and the Children of Israel as they enter and come to possess the promised land—a land “flowing with milk and honey”! The Lord does promise that we can experience the love, peace, joy, and prosperity we associate with heaven, however, there are many things within and around us, the “Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites…” which we must conquer to find that heavenly state within. Before entering the Land, they were told to “be strong and very courageous” because it takes the strength and courage of the Lord Jesus Christ working within us and for us to succeed.