Revering the Word
Joshua 21 Entering God's promised and fulfilled rest.
good morning everyone this morning we are in Joshua chapter 21 and all the land has now been allotted to the various tribes but the Levites the ones who served God's tabernacle and served as priests were not given a region of land however like an entire territory however what God did in chapter 21 is he dispersed the Levites and gave them cities and fields and property within the boundaries of the various tribes it appears that he wanted Levites to be amidst all of Israel so that there would be the more godly people and priests to serve the people in the regions that they lived so he spread them out and gave them areas of land within the tribes so that's what's happening now and it was planned ahead of time and now God is following through on that commitment the different tribes that guarded and also served at the tabernacle were these they were the cohethites the Gershenites and the Mururites now you might recall you know there's four sides to the tabernacle and I believe it was Moses and Aaron who were at one side and then the other three tribes were on the other sides of the tabernacle but now we're learning what cities they are going to get what's interesting I think to note about the various priestly tribes is that the cohethites they ended up when it came up by a lot to determine what cities they were going to get they ended up getting the cities that were in Judah and Jerusalem and Benjamin which was a blessing because that is going to end up Judah is where Jerusalem was going to be and that is where eventually the tabernacle and then ultimately the temple will be built and God seemed to give them a special favor and blessing to be in that region you might recall that that region which is in the south is the region that lasted longer the kingdom split you might recall or we haven't gotten to that yet in our teaching but that's what will happen after Solomon's leadership his sons are going to split the kingdom and the tribes to the north are going to be called Israel the tribes to the south they're going to be called Judah which is going to include Jerusalem and include Benjamin as well to the south well anyways they're going to last longer they're going to be a more godly representative nation although not perfect by any means and they're going to have their share of trouble but the northern kingdom they're going to have much more trouble and live very disobediently to God well the coathites end up being a lot of land in the south which again they're going to last another generation longer because the Syrian Empire is going to take over much later the northern tribes and then Judah to the south is going to last longer before can Nebuchadnezzar comes now the coathites also you might recall we're given the special privilege of guarding the Ark of the Covenant and instead of having oxen to carry it they actually had to carry their things by hand but that was a special privilege that they were the ones that were assigned to carry the Ark of the Covenant so they're all going to get their cities all the different tribes of Levites in in the area so that again they're close to the people of Israel but I want to close this chapter with going to the end and let's pick it up in verse well pick it up in verse 41 would read the last four verses now after all the cities have been determined all the cities of the Levites in the midst of the possession of the sons of Israel were 48 cities with their pasture lands these cities each had its surrounding pasture lands thus it was with all these cities verse 43 so the Lord gave Israel all the land which he had sworn to give to their fathers and they possessed it and lived in it now we've talked about that in various podcasts of Joshua here that this is a grand fulfillment of what well when you say grand you know God still got future filaments for Israel and when Jesus comes again but up until this point God now is being faithful on his promise to give Abraham a land and the people and now they received it and think about the incredible nature of that I mean here this people who became slaves to the Egyptian Pharaoh and you know were there for like 300 years of slaves to Egypt and and then God you know took this this nation you know really unprepared to to go out and live in the desert and they live there for 40 years and then God took the next generation of of those people the Israelites into the promised land and I mean you know they had to develop an army and develop you know allow God to strengthen them to to take over this land it's pretty incredible how far they've come to now acquiring the land of Abraham that who has promised the land of Canaan and here enough God has fulfilled his promise and that's really an emphasis that we have here in Joshua 21 is just seeing that the promises of God fulfilled and when God wants to get something done he gets it done hallelujah and he will for you and I too for his return for his promises of eternal life to those who believe in his son Jesus he's gonna come true on what he has said he would do verse 44 and the Lord gave them rest on every side according to all that he had sworn to their fathers and no one of all their enemies stood before them the Lord gave all their enemies into their hand not one of the good promises which the Lord had made to the house of Israel failed all came to pass hallelujah everything came to pass just as had been told God gave them rest you know that's interesting and this has come up before too but you know God promised them that there would be rest in the promised land and and now they're finally getting to the promised land and having rest and that really brings me to a New Testament parallel that I'd like to show you so this is kind of an encouraging and hard word at the same time but to those who are of faith and continue in faith it really is a blessing and what it would talk about is that you know Moses in I mean Hebrews chapter three and four and Moses and then Joshua ended up leading God's people and through Joshua they were enter they entered the promised land and they were able to receive rest from their enemies in the promised land now as we'll see although they did have temporary rest they did not end up removing all of their enemies and later those enemies are going to end up becoming a snare to them and we'll see that as we you know through the book of judges and later in Israel's history but nonetheless there are having a time of rest now in the promised land God has fulfilled his promise to give them his land now that's really a temporary rest that they have received but the Bible talks about a rest that we're going to have in heaven through Jesus Christ it's similar to the rest that God gave the people of Israel in the promised land because he he gave them this rest and now what's compared to that is one day through Jesus we're going to have the rest of heaven however there were some people who missed out on the rest you might remember the sons of Korot rebelled against God's people in the desert you might remember the golden calf incident and lots of people failed and disobeyed God in the desert and they never were able to enter the rest of the promised land as a result of their unfaithfulness to God and now what's being said here in Hebrews 3 and 4 and I'm just going to summarize some passages is that God has promised us a rest and the rest of heaven and it's given to those who have faith in Jesus but as some of the people did not enter the rest of the promised land because of their unfaithfulness in the desert what's being told to us in Hebrews chapter 3 is just keep your faith in Jesus all the way to the end remain faithful to him and then just as they entered rest you will enter a more permanent rest in heaven through your faith in Jesus so listen to what it says it's kind of a warning here in verse 7 of Hebrews chapter 3 therefore just as the Holy Spirit says today if you hear his voice do not harden your hearts as when they provoked me as the day of trial in the wilderness is talking about the desert when your fathers tried me by testing me and I saw my works for 40 years therefore I was angry with this generation and said they always go astray in their heart they did not know my ways as I swore my wrath they shall not enter my wrath and that's quoting an Old Testament passage from Psalm 95 some people did not enter the rest of the promised land because of their essentially unbelief and lack of faith and here's what it says in verse 12 of chapter 3 take care brother and that there not be in any one of you an evil unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God but encourage one another day after day as long as it is still called today so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin for we have become partakers of Christ if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end and the the encouragement here is listen God wants to give you the rest of heaven and the call on our lives is to hold fast our face until the end it goes on on chapter 4 let's see if I can put my finger on it listen to what it says here for indeed verse 2 for indeed we have had good news preached us that's the gospel just as they also but the word they heard did not profit him profit them because it was united by faith in those who heard so what he's saying is they had they had a word preached to them too to remain faithful to the God in the desert but they proved unfaithful and therefore they didn't receive the benefit of the promised land but it says here in verse 3 for we who have believed entered that rest just as he said I sworn my wrath they shall not enter my rest although his works were finished from the foundation of the world and listen to what it says therefore since it remains for some to enter it and those who formerly had good news preached to them fail to enter because of disobedience he again fixes a certain day today saying through David after so long a time as has been said before today if you hear his voice do not harden your hearts and what what really what this is is a warning to not let your heart be hardened and to continue in the faith so that you can enter the rest of heaven listen to what it says comparing to Joshua and this is why I bring this up because we're in Joshua and we're talking about the promised land verse 8 of Hebrews 4 for if Joshua had given them rest if it was a permanent rest see it wasn't a permanent rest they were given rest and given the land but it wasn't like the rest that we're gonna get promised that last eternally in heaven he would not have spoken of another day after that so there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God now he's he's not talking about the fact that there is a Saturday Sabbath what he's talking about there remains a Sabbath in heaven a eternal rest that's gonna come in heaven listen to verse 10 for the one who has entered his rest and that's capital H Jesus's rest has himself also rested from his works as God did from his therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest so what's being talked about is that let's be diligent to enter the rest that's given to us eternally in heaven now through Jesus it's compared to the rest of the promised land but only it's far better because it's forever and it's eternal and the way to enter that rest is to have faith in Jesus and stay in faith in Jesus and that is really really what Hebrews 3 and 4 is about in comparing to the rest that Joshua helped them through God give them in the promised land hallelujah verse 45 not one of the good promises which the Lord had made to the house of Israel failed all came to pass verse 45 of Joshua 21 and God is going to fulfill his promise to us to and what is important is to fan your faith in the flame to stay in faith in Jesus that is the guidance that we see all throughout the world is to just remain in faith hallelujah and those who remain in faith in Jesus are going to receive an eternal and blessed rest with Jesus in heaven hallelujah thank you for listening it's showing that not only do you value God not only do you value Jesus but you value the Word of God and you also value fanning your faith in the flame and continuing into faith all the way to the end may this help you and God bless you and thank you Jesus for the promise of eternal life [ Silence ]