JOURNEY TO THE LAND OF PROMISE

The Promised Land is, perhaps, the most commonly used allegory in biblical teaching. It has been used as a symbol of death--passing from this life into the next. It has been used to illustrate God’s ability to deliver an individual from a lifestyle of bondage into one of freedom. Many times it has been called on to represent God’s refuge from the enemy’s attack. It has been called a place of provision, a place of rest, a place of safety, a place of victory, a place of
prosperity, a place of dominion, a place of destiny; the list goes on and on. The Promised Land can represent many different things to many different people, but there is one common factor for the many applications–it is a place that must be sought after.
No matter who you are, the Promised Land is a place that is beyond the boundaries of your beginning. It is a foreign land that has to be sought after; one that is a found by hope and expectation. It is a place that can only be found through the belief of a promise with an expected end. Just as the land of Canaan was promised to Abraham and enjoyed by Joshua, so must our promises be realized through patient pilgrimage and divine guidance. It is a step-by-step process that is planned out by God and walked out by us.
When researching the journey to the land of Canaan as recorded in the Old Testament, I have discovered that there is a pattern that can be traced from the beginning of the journey to the end of the destination. It is a goal that began with the promise given to Abraham and ended with the reward given to Joshua. It started with belief and was realized with action.
It began with a call. God instructed Abraham to leave his present situation and pursue his divine destination.(Gen. 12:1-4). Abraham believed the promise of God and accepted the call of God, not knowing exactly where it would take him. Next, God told Abraham to “lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: for the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever.”(Gen. 13:14-15) God was telling Abraham to “look beyond your own horizon, don’t limit yourself to your present circumstance--have a vision for something more.” Then God told Abraham to walk through the land and He would give it to him; so Abraham “removed his tent and came and dwelt...and built an altar there.”(vss17-18) Abraham heard the call, believed the promise, and pursued the inheritance–being fully persuaded that God was able to complete what He had begun. (Rom 4:20-21)
Abraham never saw the fulfilment of the promise; it was received by his descendants. This was a generation who had been tempered by hard trials along their journey-now they were ready for what God had offered their ancestors. All they had to do was take it! Joshua led them across the Jordan River to possess it; but, ironically, this was only the beginning of their inheritance. Once conquered, Joshua was instructed to walk across the Land of Promise in its entirety. (Josh. 1:3) If he was going to receive the fulness of the promise, he had to understand the potential of what was given to him and realize its vastness. Finally, in his last exhortation to the people he loved so much, Joshua encouraged Israel to “cleave unto the Lord”, “take good heed unto themselves”, “put away their strange gods” and “ incline their hearts unto the Lord God of Israel.” (Josh. chpts 23-24) In other words, Joshua was compelling them to defend the inheritance God had given them.
To sum it all up, we can follow the journey of the prophets of old and realize that there is an established pattern. There is an example to follow that was developed by God, realized through God, and fulfilled with God. It is a journey that consists of six simple steps: (1) hear the promise (2) accept the call (3) see the vision (4) possess the land (5) realize the potential and (6) defend the inheritance. ---John Burkett