Joshua17:14-18: “The people of Joseph said to Joshua, “Why have you given us only one allotment and one portion for an inheritance? We are a numerous people, and the Lord has blessed us abundantly.”“If you are so numerous,” Joshua answered, “and if the hill country of Ephraim is too small for you, go up into the forest and clear land for yourselves there in the land of the Perizzites and Rephaites. The people of Joseph replied, “The hill country is not enough for us, and all the Canaanites who live in the plain have chariots fitted with iron, both those in Beth Shan and its settlements and those in the Valley of Jezreel. But Joshua said to the tribes of Joseph—to Ephraim and Manasseh—“You are numerous and very powerful. You will have not only one allotment18 but the forested hill country as well. Clear it, and its farthest limits will be yours; though the Canaanites have chariots fitted with iron and though they are strong, you can drive them out.”
Hello everybody!
These scriptures that we just read are related to the time of the conquering of the land that God promised to give to the people of Israel. God first of all made that promise to Abraham the father of the faith: “The Lord said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, Look around from where you are, to the north and south, to the east and west.All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspringforever. (Genesis13:14-15). After many generations had passed, it is finally through Joshua that the people of Israel will be able through the conquering war to start recovering the Promised Land.We have to notice that the land promised by God was not an empty territory because the enemies of the Israelites. The, Hivites, the Amorites, the Jebusites, Canaanite Joshua followed the instructions of the Lord shared the country in 10 portions, that weregiven to each of the 9 tribes of Israel and to the half tribe of Manasseh. The 02 other half tribes (Ruben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh) received their inheritance on the other side of the Jordan. “Now these are the areas the Israelites received as an inheritance in the land of Canaan, which Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun and the heads of the tribal clans of Israel allotted to them.Their inheritances were assigned by lot to the nine and a half tribes, as the Lord had commanded through Moses. Moses had granted the two and a half tribes their inheritance east of the Jordan but had not granted the Levites an inheritance among the rest,4 for Joseph’s descendants had become two tribes—Manasseh and Ephraim. The Levites received no share of the land but only towns to live in, with pasturelands for their flocks and herds. (Joshua14:1-4)” Despite the promise of God, the people had the responsibility to conquer those different spaces in order to possess them because God promised them the victory always, as long as they fully walk in his ways.
To us who are born again Christians, son and daughters of God, this message also concerns us because we are co-heritors with the Lord Jesus-Christ our elder brother, from the posterity of Abraham through faith. God promised to each of us an inheritance that needs to be conquered just like the people of Israel, in order to take possession of it. While moving forward with this message, we will discover the different keys that will enable us to take possession of our inheritance.
Why should one take possession of his inheritance?
- Because it is our legal right. “What I am saying is that as long as an heir is underage, he is nodifferent from a slave, although he owns the whole estate.The heir is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father.So also, when we were underage, we were in slavery under the elemental spiritual forces of the world.But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law,to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.”So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir. (Galatians4:1-7)
- Because with God, we have the majority. “What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who diedmore than that, who was raised to lifeis at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. (Romans8:31-34)
- Because God, gives us victory over our enemies in the battle of taking possession of our inheritance. “Then Moses went out and spoke these words to all Israel:“I am now a hundred and twenty years old and I am no longer able to lead you. The Lord has said to me, ‘You shall not cross the Jordan.’The Lord your God himself will cross over ahead of you. He will destroy these nations before you, and you will take possession of their land. Joshua also will cross over ahead of you, as the Lord said.And the Lord will do to them what he did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, whom he destroyed along with their land.The Lord will deliver them to you, and you must do to them all that I have commanded you.Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”(Deuteronomy31:1-6)
- Because the kingdom of heaven belongs to the violent. “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been subjected to violence,and violent people have been raiding it. (Matthew11:12
- Because God always accomplish his promises. God is not human, that he should lie,not a human being, that he should change his mind.Does he speak and then not act?Does he promise and not fulfill? (Numbers23:19)…So the Lord gave Israel all the land he had sworn to give their ancestors, and they took possession of it and settled there. The Lord gave them rest on every side, just as he had sworn to their ancestors. Not one of their enemies withstood them; the Lord gave all their enemies into their hands.Not one of all the Lord’s good promises to Israel failed; everyone was fulfilled. (Joshua21:43-45)
- Fear.“But the men who had gone up with him said, we can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, the land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size.We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them. (Numbers13:31-33)”
- Doubt that create a shade in our minds hindering us form seeing clearly that makes us to lose our assurance. “If you are so numerous, Joshua answered, and if the hill country of Ephraim is too small for you, go up into the forest and clear land for yourselves there in the land of the Perizzites and Rephaites. The people of Joseph replied, the hill country is not enough for us, and all the Canaanites who live in the plain have chariots fitted with iron, both those in Beth Shan and its settlements and those in the Valley of Jezreel.” (Joshua17:15-16)
- Trials that provoke discouragement in us. “The people of Joseph replied, “The hill country is not enough for us, and all the Canaanites who live in the plain have chariots fitted with iron, both those in Beth Shan and its settlements and those in the Valley of Jezreel.” (Joshua17:16)
- Sin. “Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save,nor his ear too dull to hear.But your iniquities have separatedyou from your God your sins have hidden his face from you,so that he will not hear.
- The enemies. “but the forested hill country as well. Clear it, and its farthest limits will be yours; though the Canaanites have chariots fitted with iron and though they are strong, you can drive them out.” (Joshua17:18)”
- We need to think like winners, to have the mind of Christ just as Joshua and Caleb. “Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, we should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it. (Numbers13:30)”
- We have to be conquerors and courageous. “No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them. (Joshua1:5-6)…For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. (2 Timothy1:7)”
- We must have assurance and faith that God is with us in trials and also that he grant us victory. “The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. (Deuteronomy31:8)”
- By living in obedience toward the word of God. “So Hebron has belonged to Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite ever since, because he followed the Lord, the God of Israel, wholeheartedly. (Joshua14:14)
- Recover and own your inheritance through prophetic declarations. “I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. (Joshua1:3)”
- Move ahead by faith to physically and materially recover your inheritance. “By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the army had marched around them for seven days (Hebrews11:30)”
