The Book Of Numbers | A Journey Toward Human Freedom Under God's AuthoritySample

"There But Not Yet, The Promised Land"

Every good story holds its tension. Every good novel has a sequel. Every good drama has its cliff-hanger—something that’s unresolved that leaves the reader wanting more. As the last three chapters commence, God prepared his people for entrance into their Promised victory. Israel had arrived, but not yet. They were there, and not yet. Israel was to be God’s people and he was to be there God. God intended this from the beginning. The land was a land of real boundaries (34), real justice and refuge (35), and marriage and unity (36).

Instead of it being an end of itself, the land serves as yet another symbol—a diorama—for the reality to which it points. This land was not to be just a physical reality in a tangible “land,” but a spiritual reality pointing beyond the land to God himself. The Promised Land points to a very real place for the establishing of the household and family of God … a place where heaven meets earth—a Kingdom. This is the tension in the story of Israel. Hebrews 11:39-40 says, “And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.” Israel herself is a symbol, a diorama, and a masterpiece of something far greater. Her story was to be completed by a man who would also come up out of Egypt during the time Herod was killing children (remind you of Egypt). He would also cross the Jordan, wander in a wilderness, and go into the Garden of Gethsemane to make right Israel’s and Adam’s wrongs. 

This man is Jesus! Jesus is the land, Jesus is Israel, Jesus is the seed, Jesus is the blessing for Israel and all nations, and the reason for Israel’s journey. Jesus is the better Moses who leads us into the Promised Land where Moses fell short (Yeshua—meaning God saves), and he now rules and reigns in the hearts of his church. We are his people and he is our God. Jesus’ kingdom future, is a paradise that we now await, while in the meantime we sojourn in the desert as Jesus slowly grows us into people who, in him, are soon be able to fully serve in His kingdom alongside of him—in and under his authority!

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