Joshua 1:3 Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you, as I said to Moses.
There are some keys here I want to highlight now that we have made it this far into the book. First, God said "I have given you." So, it is already done. God had already given the land. He also said every place the sole of Joshua's foot will step God had given "just as He said to Moses." We have said before that God's promises don't change. They were given to us by the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, and all those that came before us. He is that same God today. In fact, He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He does not change His mind and His plans for us do not change. We will look at that later in Joshua.
Up to this point, we have seen God tell Joshua not to be afraid or fear the enemy that is coming against him. God says it again in Chapter 11.
Joshua 11:6 But the LORD said to Joshua, "Do not be afraid because of them, for tomorrow about this time I will deliver all of them slain before Israel. You shall hamstring their horses and burn their chariots with fire."
God reminds Joshua that He is with the children of Israel. As a result, the children of Israel were able to fight with confidence and see the deliverance of the land into their hands, just as God said He had done. We have seen Joshua be obedient with this result:
Joshua 11:23 So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the LORD had said to Moses; and Joshua gave it as an inheritance to Israel according to their divisions by their tribes. Then the land rested from war.
What we are seeing is just the manifestation of what God said to Joshua in chapter 1 verse 3. Everywhere Joshua and the children of Israel stepped became theirs. But, what is interesting to point out up to this point, and we have discussed this briefly thoughout our study so far, there was an action that had to be completed before the children of Israel could have possession of the promise. There were inhabitants that had made their home in the Promised Land. The land was not empty. The promise was not vacant. Eviction notices were not served and Joshua and his captains did not wait for the people that inhabited their promise to leave.
Matthew 11:12 And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of Heaven Suffers Violence, and the violent take it by force.
I have often wondered what Jesus meant when He said the kingdom of Heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force. I wonder if it doesn't mean what we are seeing here in Joshua. Consider for a moment what the Psalmist says in Psalms 37:29:
Psalms 37:29 The righteous shall inherit the land, And dwell in it forever.
I enjoy word studies and have found that often the Greek and Hebrew languages the Bible was originally written in often do not translate into English or match the definitions of our words. There are words in the original languages that translators have had to just find the closest fitting English word. So, let's take " inherit" since we are talking about the Promised Land. The word inherit in the Psalm above, and every other place I could find in the Bible means this in the original Hebrew:
Strong's Concordance reference is H3423:
to occupy (be driving out previous tenants, and possessing in their place); by implication to seize, to rob, to inherit; also to expel, to impoverish, to ruin: - cast out, consume, destroy, disinherit, dispossess, drive (-ing) out, enjoy, expel, X without fail, (give to, leave for) inherit (-ance, -or), + magistrate, be (make) poor, come to poverty, (give to, make to) possess, get (have) in (take) possession, seize upon, succeed, X utterly.
Inherit is not a passive word, based on the original Hebrew and it does not mean what we typically associate it with in terms of inheriting something. In fact, based on the Strong's Concordance for the Hebrew word for inherit, it is a violent term. In fact, we see the very definition of the word play out in Joshua as the Children of Israel seek to occupy the land God promised them. We were given the armor of God complete with the Sword of the Spirit. Is our fight any less violent? Is our enemy any less interested in seeing we do not inherit the promises of God? The only difference between our fight and Joshua's fight is the nature of the enemy. I said this the other day. Our enemy, Paul told the church at Ephesus, is not physical, but sprititual. So are our weapons.
2 Corinthians 10:3-5 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. (4) For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, (5) casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,
We may walk in this world and in the flesh, but we do not fight this battle in the world. Our weapons, which includes the Word of God, are might in God! They pull down strongholds, they cast down arguments and everything that places itself against the knowledge of God, they bring every thought into captivity and to the obedience of Christ. Folks, that is not passive. That is violent. But it is violence against an enemy we cannot see that only seeks to steal, to kill, and to destroy. Our advantage? We have the Commander of Angel Armies and the Mighty Warrior that fights for us. We have the King of Kings that has already defeated and disarmed our enemies.
So, today I ask: What have you been praying for but not willing to inherit? What have you been asking God to do about a situation when you have not tried to possess the land? Why do we not press forward in faith? How many times have we seen in Joshua so far where the Lord has said, "Do not fear. I am with you." He is with us, too. He never leaves. He never forsakes. And He has not given a spirit of fear. Just the opposite.
So, today, look at your circumstances. Remember what God has promised to you. Look at the example Joshua and the Children of Israel give us in following the Lord obediently and confidently in battle. Use the weapons we have that are mighty in God. Go and inherit your promise.
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