The Kingdom of God

In learning about the Kingdom of God, the Lord brought me to several scriptures about the Promised Land.  First of all, the Promised Land was not given because of the righteousness of the Israelites, but because of God’s desire to fulfill His own Word to their forefathers (Dt 9:5).  God’s Word is important, and it given for a purpose.  The Promised Land was an important promise to the forefathers and would serve to give God’s people rest (Josh 1:13), and so that they could establish a godly nation.  After Israel was established in the Promised Land, this new land gave them a new identity and these people who formerly were powerless slaves became famous as a nation with a powerful God.
God’s word is shown again as important Jesus’ tells us the parable of the sower and the seed.  God plants His words in the hearts of men.  This seed, the word, does not grow well when planted along a path, amongst rocks or in shallow ground, or amongst weeds.  God’s word, or promises, cannot grow up alongside sin, love of the world, and our fleshly nature. In the book of Jeremiah we see a similar illustration of the seed being planted, where the Israelites were admonished not to plant amongst thorns (Jer 4:3).  In fact, when we have poor growing conditions and weeds come up, the Lord would like to change that for us by speaking words of Life to us (see Is 55:11,12).  It is His Word that gives us Life.
Although Moses led the children of Israel to the Promised Land, they did not like the fact that there were giants in the land.  We might ask ourselves “Why was the enemy left in the land that God was going to give to His people?”  God answers that question in Judges, where we read that they were left in the land to test Israel to see whether they would obey God’s commands, and to teach them how to fight (Jud 3:1-4).  In fact, Joshua spoke to the tribes of Israel, about driving out their enemies and occupying the land. When some of the tribes had not yet fought their enemies, Joshua asked them, “How long will you wait before you begin to take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you?” (Josh 18:3).  They had to fight their enemies to obtain the promises of God. 
Joshua also warned the Israelites against complacency, to the sad and eventual end that God would no longer fight for them (Josh 23:13).  He correctly predicted that the enemies that were allowed to remain in the Promised Land would becomes snares, causing the Israelites to bow to idols (Jud 2:3) and that some would sacrifice their own children to these idols (Ps 106:36).  Joshua foretold of the enemies setting “traps” and being “whips on your backs”, showing the oppressive nature of these enemies and why they could not cohabitate the land with the Israelites.  Finally, Joshua said that the enemies of the Israelites would be “thorns in your eyes,” giving them trouble (Nu 33:55), causing rebellion by their example (Ez 2:5,6), and being malicious neighbors (Ez 28:24).  If the Israelites did not rid their land of their enemy, the children of God would eventually perish.
We know that the scriptural account of the Israelites was written as an example for us (1 Cor 10:6-11). The Promised Land was a fulfillment of the promises to Israel and all his descendants.  We might ask ourselves “What are the promises of God to us?”   God spoke “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.  Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord.  Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.  I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.” (2 Cor 6:16b – 18).  We learn that these are the promises from the following verse, 2 Cor 7:1, “Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.”  Just as God wanted His people to separate themselves from the world and evil in the Promised Land, He wants us to separate ourselves from evil and from the world in our lives today. 
In the book of Hebrews we have an account of the children of Israel who were taken out of Egypt, who did not enter the Promised Land because of their unbelief.  I mention this account because it ties together the Old Testament promise of a land to be occupied by the Israelites, and the New Testament promise of entering the “rest” of God (Heb 4:10).  We can see that the Lord has a spiritual place He has promised us.  What are the conditions of entering into this promised rest?  Three times we have the admonition, “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts,” (Heb 3:7-11, 15 & 4:7).  Here God is referring to the rebellion which took place in the wilderness, preventing the Israelites from entering into the Promised Land for a whole generation.  The conditions were, and remain for us today, to not harden our hearts when He speaks to us.  This time the Lord is placing emphasis on His spoken  word, as well as His written word.  We are to be a people who listen and obey God’s voice.  We see that entering God’s rest in the same as entering God’s Promised Land (Heb 3:16-18), or the Promises of God.
When the Israelites entered the Promised Land, the tribes were not only to eliminate their enemies, but to obey God’s word, handed down to them by Moses.  Moses had warned the children of Israel about the consequences of disobedience.  We find a list of the results of their actions should they not obey God’s word, in Deuteronomy 28; sickness, disasters, an anxious mind, eyes weary with longing, despairing hearts, a life filled with suspense, dread in the night and in the day (never being sure of one’s life), bondage and slavery, and finally, God Himself would break His covenant with them (Dt 28: 58-68).  We see that it was necessary to provide a Savior, Jesus Christ the Righteous, to provide an escape for such bondage and darkness (Is 61) and restore God’s people to their rightful place in His kingdom.
In looking into the New Testament we find an interesting quote where we read again that “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them.  They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God” (Rev 21:3).  God has always wanted to dwell amongst His people.  Since God works towards the end that He might fulfill this word of promise, what should we work towards?  Looking at the example that was set for us, we should obey His written and spoken word; We should eliminate those things which are enemies to our relationship with God; and We should be a people of faith, standing on God’s promises to us.  Just as the children of Israel found that they had to rid their land of those who were enemies of God, we also have to rid our lives of those things that are His enemies in order to establish God’s kingdom in our hearts and in our lives.  God left the enemy in our lives in order to test us, to see if we would obey, and to teach us how to fight.  The promise is for those who overcome their enemies.  Our example is Jesus, who said, “To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne.” (Rev 3:22).  Let us look at our lives in the light of the scriptures to see if we are trying to establish God’s kingdom amongst His enemies.  When we rid our hearts of enemies, we will see God’s kingdom established there.  When we refuse to cohabitate with our enemies in our lives, we will build God’s kingdom around us.