Page 4 - Oct19

The Land The Lord Has Given Elder Mark Rowell

Numbers 13:27 “And they told him, and said, We came unto the
land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and
honey; and this is the fruit of it.”

I’m sure we’re all familiar with the scene set before us in Numbers. The children of
Israel had been delivered from Egypt and now stood on the banks of Jordan’s river

waiting to cross over into the land that God had promised them. God commands
Moses to send over 12 spies to see if the land is good. Two spies (Joshua and Caleb)
came back with a true report that everything the Lord had promised was in the land,
but also testified of the strong inhabitants and walled cities. But Caleb quickly said,
“Let us go up at once, and possess it!” But there were ten others that saw nothing but

the bad; giants, and land that will eat them up. Then there would be another 40 years
pass before Israel was blessed to cross over.

“And they took strong cities, and a fat land, and possessed houses full of all goods,
wells digged, vineyards and oliveyards, and fruit trees in abundance: so they did eat,
and were filled, and became fat, and delighted themselves in they great goodness.”
Neh 9:25

So 40 years later, Israel takes possession of the land God promised them. The book
of Joshua chronicles the wars, the victories, the losses and pitfalls, that Israel went
through until the Lord conquered their enemies. Now they possessed the land! It was

stated that the Lord will (and did) drive out the inhabitants before Israel. Remember,
this was the land promised by the Lord all the way back to Abraham! Not only that,
there was something very special about this land: it had everything that Israel needed,
and it was all provided by the Lord!

“And it shall be, when the LORD thy God shall have brought thee into the land which
he swore unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and
goodly cities which thou buildedst not, and houses full of all good things, which thou

filledst not, and wells digged, which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees,
which thou plantedst not; when thou shalt have eaten and be full; then beware lest
thou forget the LORD, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the
house of bondage." Deut 6:10-12

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