The Promise Land

I am the son of an immigrant.

My father came to this country in 1967 as, what was then known in the slang term, a Bracero.

Meaning = “Those who work with their arms”

My grandfather also came in the 1940’s.

You see, from 1940 through the 60’s

The US Government had a labor shortage, and brought many into the country to fill the labor void.

To which, as I said, both my father and grandfather benefited from.

My father eventually became a citizen of our great country and built his life here.

Having spent 3/4’s of his life in the US,

We tease him that he is now more American than the Cheeseburger.

My wife Yadi as well, has now passed the threshold of spending more than half her life her new country.

So, as you can imagine, they are rightly very proud of this Nation and all that it represents.

Myself included.

Yadi and I have traveled a bit,

And let me tell you,

Every time we cross over the immigration and customs line back into America,

Our hearts want to proclaim what my late brother-in-law, Pete, used to say, “He, was born in Greece and immigrated here,

Spending over half his life here, and ultimately building his fortune, would say

Every time he re-entered the country was, “God Bless America!”

Thats a true story!

If you have ever traveled outside of the US, you know can relate to this sentiment.

That is because we all understand what this country means, and the sacrifice it cost those before us,

And the pain this country has gone through, in order for us to be able to live here.

Because I love this country, I would defend it at all cost.

But, I know this country,

I wonder how we would feel about defending this country, if we had never been to it, or known its beauty, nor

Respected and honored what it meant to be a part of it?

Well the book of Joshua in the old testament, details the pain staking struggles that God’s people

“Israel” now faced as they entered into the promised land to take possession of it.

That promised land is what you and I know as the country of Israel today.

Actually, we’ll discover through the book of Joshua, that the promised land is much larger than the borders of the present day Israel was alloted on May 14, 1948

God promised Abraham that his descendants would be

innumerable,

that they would eventually be enslaved about four hundred years, then,

He would judge the nation,

And bring them back the land of Caanan to ultimately posses it

We are at the point in history now, where Israel is on the precipice of entering into the Promised land and taking possession of it.

But before we jump in, let’s catch up from the beginning to the Nation of Israel standing on the east side of the Jordan over looking the land filled with milk and honey.

First,

God created the universe and Adam & Eve

Man sinned, God promised to deal the Serpent a fatal blow once and for all through the woman’s seed. (Gen 3:15)

Two sons were born to Adam and Eve, the serpent has one killed a made a murderer of the other

Seth is born, to carry on the seed.

The children of Seth become rotten, and develop a DNA gene-pool problem we see in Genesis chapter six, filling the planet with ungodly giants, which causes God to wipe out the whole of the world

But in order to carry out His promise to the serpent, he spared eight people to carry on the woman’s seed. EVE

Noah’s children multiply in the post-flood earth, but they disobey God’s command to spread out on the earth, and they congregate in one spot together under the leadership of Nimrod, and attempt to build their own God, system

To which, God comes down, and forces them to disperse across the globe by confusing their languages, preventing the completion of the tower in the area of Babel, which eventually becomes, Babylon

From the scattering of people and language groups, God called one man, to be the father of His chosen people, Abraham

He promised Abraham, Isaac and Jacob the land they were living in would belong to them and their descendants.

Jacob had 12 sons, including his beloved son Joseph, who was hated by his brothers, and sold into slavery in Egypt, then rose to be the Prime Minister of Egypt, then called for his father Jacob, and family to join his in Egypt.

Jacob and Joseph both die in Egypt, but the Israelites flourish and become a great nation of people, which scares the Pharoah into forcing them into slavery, just as God promised

After four hundred years, a deliverer is born, Moses, He, through the power and wonder of God, convinces Pharoah to free his people and they flee Egypt heading for the promised land,

Pharoah relents and sends his army against them, but God opens the waters of the Red Sea ending their bondage in Egypt.

Moses leads the nation of Israel through the desert for 40 years, and then dies on a mountain.

But not before receiving what we know as the 10 commandments by the finger of God on a couple of stone tablets.

The Ten Commandments

I am the Lord thy God, thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.

Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

Honor thy father and thy mother.

Thou shalt not kill.

Thou shalt not commit adultery.

Thou shalt not steal.

Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

Thou shalt not covet.

Before we move on from here, lets get a sneak peek at what becomes of the body of the most revered men in Biblical history, Moses after he dies.

But for that, we have to turn to the New Testament, a couple thousand years into the future, in verse

We get a peek at an argument the Archangel had with the Devil over Moses’ body.

Jude 9 (CSB)

9 Yet when Michael the archangel was disputing with the devil in an argument about Moses’s body, he did not dare utter a slanderous condemnation against him but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”

Whatever happened to the body of Moses, the devil and Michael the archangel argued over it.

Wow.

It they argued over his dead body, how much do you think they argued over his live body?

Don’t be fooled, they are arguing over your live body right now as we speak.

That’s why when ever you get a bad report on your body, you should rebuke that report in the name of Jesus.

Because God is the Surgeon General, He will have the last word on your body and your health. AMEN

Well, Moses, the Bible tells us, went up to Mt. Nebo, and laid his eyes on the land but wasn’t allowed to enter.

Deuteronomy 34:5 (CSB)

5 So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the Lord’s word.

Let’s jump now the his successor Joshua, the great general.

Joshua 1:1–2 (CSB)

1 After the death of Moses the Lord’s servant, the Lord spoke to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’s assistant: 2 “Moses my servant is dead. Now you and all the people prepare to cross over the Jordan to the land I am giving the Israelites.

At this point in the history, Israel had not known their home.

Although the land was already theirs, they did not know it.

Because, since Israel, (Jacob), left the land to go down into Egypt, Israel the nation did not know their own country.

This was an exciting and scary time for them I suppose,

Not only were they strangers in their own lands, they were going to have to evict, by force those who dominated the land.

Remember, the serpent up to this point has tried over and over again to thwart the promise of God from coming true.

For one, he doesn’t want his head crushed, and he wants to make God out to be a failure and liar.

The serpent knew that God had given Abraham, Isaac and Jacob the land as their inheritance,

After all, remember God created a new nation out of the dispersed peoples.

He chose Abraham to come out from among them, now this people, grown out of Abraham,

Now a nation with a name, Israel, they were going to need a country to belong to.

This is why God gave Abraham and his descendants the land of Caanan.

Now, as to why God chose that tiny strip of land connected Africa to Asia, is anyones guess and only God knows why

But, as far as you and I are concerned, they had to be put somewhere, so, this is where God chose.

It could have been Hawaii or Mexico, but God chose that tiny strip for His sovereign purposes.

We assume for several reasons that it was strategic by way of being at the center of all the known world at the time, and far into the future.

This way His name would have influence to every nation, because they were at the crossroads of all the ancient world.

(https://cbnisrael.org/2023/09/22/weekly-qa-why-did-god-call-abram-to-the-promised-land/)

But, when we get to heaven, we can ask Him why.

So, knowing this is where God decided to put His people, that would eventually produce the promised head crusher,

He fills the land with the same kind of giants from the days of Noah.

Not only that, but some of them are ruling areas as kings, and have armies etc.

Whatever they were, they must have been truly intimidating to come across to instill such fear in the Israelites.

They are the reason that Israel were punished by wandering in the desert for forty years, when it only took a couple of weeks to get from Egypt to the land of Caanan.

Numbers 13:30–33 (CSB)

30 Then Caleb quieted the people in the presence of Moses and said, “Let’s go up now and take possession of the land because we can certainly conquer it!”

31 But the men who had gone up with him responded, “We can’t attack the people because they are stronger than we are!” 32 So they gave a negative report to the Israelites about the land they had scouted: “The land we passed through to explore is one that devours its inhabitants, and all the people we saw in it are men of great size. 33 We even saw the Nephilim there—the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim! To ourselves we seemed like grasshoppers, and we must have seemed the same to them.”

Whatever they saw, frightened them to death, to the point that they refused to enter the promised land at that time to take possession of it.

Noticed verse

Numbers 13:33 (CSB)

33 We even saw the Nephilim there—the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim! To ourselves we seemed like grasshoppers, and we must have seemed the same to them.”

The Nephilim, there’s that peculiar word again, meant to convey a Giant hybrid between angel and human.

But also notice, the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim,.

Who is Anak? anyone know? He was the ancestor to the nine foot tall giant, Goliath and his brothers,

Ahiman

Sheshai

Talmai

Some of these giants even had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot.

They were no doubt enough to scare anyone from going into battle against them.

But this excuse didn’t impress God.

God did not pardon their lack of faith even in the face if insurmountable odds and challenges.

He didn’t give His chosen people a pass because they were scared at what was in front of them.

In response, to their lack of faith in Him, He made them wander the desert for forty years until that generation died out.

They had been slaves in Egypt under the Pharaoh, they had been eye witnesses to the 10 plagues on Egypt

Water turned to blood: when the water in Egypt, including the Nile River, turned to blood, causing fish to die.

Frogs: Egypt overrun by frogs, that emerged from the Nile over-running the land.

Gnats or lice: The dust turned into gnats or lice

Flies: Swarms of flies or various translations suggest "winged insects”

Diseased livestock: Cattle, horses, donkeys, camels, and sheep, were diseased

Boils: Humans and animals suffered from painful boils or sores.

Hail and thunder: A hailstorm & thunder with lightning came to Egypt, destroying crops and killing people and animals.

Locusts: Swarms of locusts invaded Egypt, eating up whatever crops remained.

Darkness: Egypt swallowed darkness so thick that it could be felt,

Death of the firstborn: The final plague was the death of the firstborn in every Egyptian household, including the Pharaoh’s

Then the Red Sea was opened before their eyes, and they walked across on dry ground.

They cried for water in the desert and God brought water out of rocks,

They cried for bread, God sent them Mana from heaven

They cried for Meat, God sent them Quail.

They were not afflicted with any illnesses.

Even having seen all of that, they were not willing to enter because they feared the giant inhabitants of the land.

Brothers and sisters,

There will be times in your lives that will make you question how much you are willing to believe in the power of God to save you from your troubled times

The amount of faith you have in God in those moments of your life when you are facing terrible scary giants,

In what ever form they take, whether its financial, or in your health, or relationships

Regardless what they look like, God expects you to have faith in Him.

He expects you to remember all of the other miraculous times he snuffed out a giant in your life.

Rely on Him, and

He will bring you the bread you need,

He will bring water, even if out of a rock

He will separate waters for you,

If you just remain Faithful to Him.

Only then, can you enter into the promise Land of His peace that passes all understanding