Joshua

There the Israelites were, on the east side of the Jordan river, staring at the land they'd been told about, dreamed about, salivated over for 40 years -- a land flowing with milk and honey, where you could have your own place, grow your own food, raise a family and make something of yourself. The land was waiting for them, and the blessings were going to roll in.

A lot was changing. Moses was dead. The cloud, something they'd seen between them and the horizon for as long as they could remember, was gone. And they were about to cross into a place of many unknowns.

Who was to lead them now? Joshua -- a name meaning "The Lord saves". His job was to bring them over the Jordan river and conquer the land they had been promised. But the Jordan was in the spring flood stage, and unknown enemies on the other side might mean their defeat once they got over anyway. Then God stepped in, as he always did. The priests went in front, carrying the ark of the covenant, and as soon as their feet touched the river, it moved away on both sides -- ripped apart by the power of God, so they could go through. You can read the story starting in Joshua 3.

About 1,400 years later, another Joshua ripped open another barrier, and led all humanity into a new land of plenty and blessing. Jesus (the Greek form of Joshua) opened up the way between death and life through his own death and bodily resurrection. The temple veil was ripped open (Mark 15:38), signifying both a new, unrestricted access between God and humanity, and the coming end of the old covenant system. And a whole new land of opportunity and blessing -- the land of constant contact with God, and spiritual riches beyond man's imagination -- was given to us as a free inheritance.

It took faith for Joshua to believe that God would defeat all his enemies in front of him. It took faith for the priests to step into the surging waters of a flooded river. It took faith for Jesus to face his Roman captors and Jewish accusers, knowing he was going to die but trusting his Father to raise him from the dead.

And it takes faith for us to believe that Jesus' perfect rightousness, and his perfect sacrifice for our sins, is sufficient for our salvation. We humans like to think that we can somehow solidify the deal by our effort. But God saves us by faith alone (Ephesians 2:8-10), not by our obedience. Then he begins to transform our formerly self-willed hearts into willing servants of our Lord (more on that next time).

If Joshua and the Israelites had chickened out and stayed on the east side of the Jordan, they never would have inherited the land of milk and honey. If Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, had allowed his flesh to overcome his perfect faith, he wouldn't have conquered sin and the grave. But he was God, he couldn't fail, he didn't fail, and he leads us out of the wilderness of our broken nature and into the awesome blessings of God's adopted children (Ephesians 1:3-8).

What part of your life might be considered 'unconquered territory'? Have you been standing on the wrong side of the Jordan, so to speak, not yet moving ahead into victory? Whether this is your first time or your hundredth time to surrender something to God and step out on faith, the process is still the same: turn and face Jesus Christ, ask him for help, and start moving forward. If you need some help with that, please let me know.