Tag Archives: Promised Land

The Bigger Picture

July 7, 2022 Tom Vander Well Leave a comment

I saw in heaven another great and marvelous sign: seven angels with the seven last plagues—last, because with them God’s wrath is completed.
Revelation 15:1 (NIV)

On a grand scale, the Great Story is about slavery.

I have observed that conversation about slavery in our modern American culture is typically confined to the injustice of American slavery with occasional nods to the slave industry that still exists around the globe. These are all earthbound conversations.

As I mentioned in a post last week, Jesus stated clearly that His mission on this world was about a Kingdom that is not of this world. And that mission was about freeing slaves:

“Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.”
John 8:34 (NIV)

On this chapter-a-day journey through John’s Revelation, what has struck me has been the continued parallels to the story of Moses, the Hebrews’ exodus from slavery in Egypt, the giving of the law, the tabernacle, and the journey through the wilderness to the Promised Land.

In today’s chapter, the Lamb (aka Jesus) and Moses stand by a “sea” in heaven and sing a victory song, just as Moses and the Hebrews sang a victory song after the defeat of their slave masters, the Egyptians, who pursued them and drown in the Red Sea. In Revelation it is the “beast” from the sea who pursued God’s people, but they overcame. John then sees a heavenly tabernacle, just like the tabernacle God had Moses construct in the wilderness. Just as the tabernacle of Moses filled with a cloud of God’s presence (Exodus 40:34), so is the heavenly tabernacle. Out of the cloud rises the final set in a trinity of judgments on the earth. We had the seven seals, then the seven trumpets, and now it will be seven bowls.

In the Exodus, ten plagues are sent on a hard-hearted Pharaoh and his people to justly free the Hebrews from their enslavement. In the same way, the plagues of Revelation are presented as a just spiritual reckoning for the Prince of this World (aka Satan), his hard-hearted followers, and the kingdoms of this world that have leveraged humanity’s enslavement to sin for their own pride, power, and pleasure. In Moses’ exodus, it was the “blood of the lamb” that protected the Hebrews from the angel of death. In Revelation, it is the “blood of the Lamb” that saves God’s people from the ultimate and impending “second death.”

In the quiet this morning, I find myself once again looking at the forest and not the trees. Earlier in my spiritual journey, I would read and study Revelation with my mind myopically focused on the earthbound events described within the text and what they might mean in terms of the earthly realities. I was only intent on understanding the smaller picture of what would happen on this earth. This time, my mind is seeing the bigger picture. I’m seeing the events described in the much broader context of where and how they fit in the overarching Great Story.

Slavery is a terrible reality on this earth. Slavery to sin is a terrible reality in the spirit realm.

In the beginning, Adam and Eve sinned and were kicked out of the Garden into an earthbound existence, enslaved to sin, subject to the Prince of this World, and doomed to die a physical death. Revelation is the final just judgment on humanity’s slave masters and the ultimate, once and for all liberation of God’s people from the shackles of sin in order to be led to an eternal Promised Land.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Go!

April 29, 2022 Tom Vander Well Leave a comment

So Joshua said to the Israelites: “How long will you wait before you begin to take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has given you?
Joshua 18: 3 (NIV)

Early in my career, our company was contracted by a large, national corporation to produce and present a training program to all of their contact center employees across the nation. It was the largest project, to date, that our company had ever landed. And it was on me to write, produce, and present it.

I froze.

One of the things that I’ve learned about being an Enneagram Type Four is that there is a pessimism that runs deep in us. Perhaps that was what was gnawing at me as I drug my feet in getting started. I feared failure. I wasn’t sure I was up to a task this big and the lofty expectation of my superior and the client.

Today’s chapter begins with the setting up of the Hebrew’s traveling tent temple, called the Tabernacle, in a town called Shiloh which means “place of peace.” This is a significant act. Since it was created in the days of Moses and their exodus from slavery in Egypt, the Tabernacle has been the center of their camp wherever they went as they wandered in the wilderness. Now that they’ve settled into the Promised Land, the Tabernacle will have a fixed spot, and Shiloh is, roughly, at the center. It will remain at Shiloh for hundreds of years.

The setting up of the Tabernacle in a fixed spot is a sign of the beginning of permanence in the Promised Land, but there are still seven tribes who haven’t received their inheritance. Joshua asks them what they are waiting for, and this suggests that there was some hesitancy on their behalf. An allotment of land came with the expectation and responsibility to drive the remaining inhabitants from it. The tribes who are left are smaller in size and strength. The largest of the tribes like Judah, Ephraim, and Manasseh, already had their allotments and were busy settling their own lands. The smaller tribes could not depend on the aid of all the fighting men these larger tribes had at their disposal. The hesitancy of the smaller tribes may have been simply that they feared they didn’t have enough fighting men and military strength to get the job done.

We celebrated the resurrection of Jesus just a few weeks ago. His resurrection appearances were scattered across about 40 days before He ascended to heaven and left His followers with the task of taking His message to the world. Talk about a monumental challenge of a task. And there was no Elon Musk among them. Twelve largely uneducated men with no worldly wealth or power were tasked by the Son of God with changing the world.

I find it fascinating that Jesus’ “great commission” to His followers started with the word “Go.” He had told them in the Garden the night before His crucifixion not to worry when they were drug before rulers and princes. They would be given what they need to say and the power to say it in the moment they needed it. The first step was to “go.”

And, that’s where I was stuck with my major work project. I froze. I was sitting still. I was paralyzed like the seven tribes, hoping that maybe someone else with more experience and knowledge would miraculously show up and do it for me. Fortunately, I had a wise and learned boss who saw what was happening. He kicked me from behind, then grabbed my hand and pulled me along until I found my momentum. Our client said it was the best, most creative, and most empowering corporate training he’d ever seen in his career.

Mission accomplished. Yet, it wouldn’t have happened with that kick from behind and a pull to get me moving forward. I learned through that experience that when I’m feeling that pessimistic paralysis my first step is simply to “go” and get moving forward.

For example, almost every weekday morning I sit down at my keyboard to write this chapter-a-day post. Many days I’m tired, my brain is fogged over, and I stare at a blank screen. If I sit there waiting for a fully formed and structured thought to form itself in my brain I’ll sit there all morning. I’ve learned to just “go.” I start typing, and the words begin to flow.

That’s what happened this morning, in fact. And here was are at the end of my post, and the end of another work week.

Go…have a good weekend.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

The Easy Way Out

December 5, 2017 Tom Vander Well Leave a comment

If we have found favor in your eyes,” they said, “let this land be given to your servants as our possession. Do not make us cross the Jordan.”
Numbers 32:5 (NIV)

When I was a kid I was terrible at waiting for things. My sister, Jody, and I would always tell each other what we were getting for Christmas. I just had to know, even though it pretty much ruined Christmas morning as a time of pleasant surprises.

Driven by my appetites I was terribly impatient as a young person and typically wanted things now. Perhaps this developed from being the youngest sibling and watching others get to do things first while I had to wait until I was big enough or old enough. Perhaps it’s just part of my personality. Whatever the case, I can tell you that throughout my life journey when I was given a choice between the instant, easy gratification of a known quantity or the long, slow, patient wait for a promised, better pay-off down the line, I have typically always chosen the former. I’ve been very good at taking the easy-way out.

This trait has generally not served me well.

So it was with great interest that I read the story of the Hebrew tribes of Reuben, Gad in today’s chapter. If you’ve been following the larger story we know that many years before today’s chapter Moses led the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt to the Promised Land God had promised them in the land of Canaan.

Back in those ancient days the land was largely made up of small city-states that controlled a small territory. Sometimes these towns would band together to form a larger, regional power in the area, but often each city-state would build a wall around their village and go it on their own. In those days it was a dog-eat-dog world in which people groups were constantly invading and conquering one another. You were always at risk of a larger, stronger people showing up out of nowhere, conquering you, killing your entire population, and taking all of your possessions as plunder. If the Israelites wanted the Promised Land they would have to take it by conquest. It seems bloody and barbaric in our politically correct, modern Western world, but the ancient world of the near east was a bloody, barbaric place. It’s just the way it was.

A generation earlier, on their first visit to the Promised Land, Moses sent spies into the land to check things out. All but two of the spies were fearful and advised not starting a military campaign to take the land. Two spies, Joshua and Caleb, advised that the Israelites have faith in God and go for it. Because of the tribes’ lack of faith God said they’d continue to be a nomadic, wandering people for an entire generation before giving their children another chance.

As today’s chapter opens we’re setting up for the second chance. The Hebrew Tribes have approached the Jordan River and are once more looking out over the Promised Land. It’s right there for the taking, but it will require a hard campaign of conquest an no guarantee of victory. Now, the Reubenites and Gadites come to Moses and say, “We like this land we’re standing on. Perfect for our flocks. We’ll settle for this. Have fun with the conquest.”

It’s just like me as a little kid. “I’ll take the thing I can have right now. This land I can see and we already possess and I don’t have to worry about conquering? It will be way more easy. I’ll take the easy way out, thank you.”

Moses immediately thinks, “It’s deja vu all over again.”

When confronted with what they were doing, the Reubenites and Gadites strike a pledge that they will settle the land they were on, but would send their men on the military campaign to support their fellow tribes in the conquest. Moses agrees, but I can feel an eery foreshadowing of problems to come…

Will the Reubenites and Gadites really be committed to supporting the conquest when their wives and children are back on the other side of the Jordan?
Will the Reubenites and Gadites leave their best fighters to protect their families and possessions and send their worst fighters on conquest? How’s that going to go over with the other tribes?
Once the Promise Land is secured will the Reubenites and Gadites be pissed off when they realize that they settled for less when they could have had much better land if they’d just been patient and held-out like the other tribes?

[Cue: red flags waving, alarm bells going off, and a loud buzzer]

All of the hard lessons this impatient person has learned along my life journey tells me this is not going to end well.

This morning I’m reminded of some of my own mistakes when I chose immediate, easy gratification over a much better, promised pay-off that required patience, fortitude and/or hard work. Some of these mistakes were silly and insignificant, but others were tragically life changing.

I’ve learned over time to recognize the pattern in myself. I’ve developed more patience. Having experienced some really good “promised land” rewards and delayed gratification has given me positive reinforcement on which to draw upon. I’m more likely to make wise choices today than I was in my younger years. Nevertheless, I’ve learned that some natural inclinations never go away. I just have to learn to recognize and manage the moment when I’m tempted to take the easy way out.

Chapter-a-Day

You Gotta Have Heart

April 11, 2016 Tom Vander Well Leave a comment

“And Moses swore on that day, saying, ‘Surely the land on which your foot has trodden shall be an inheritance for you and your children forever, because you have wholeheartedly followed the Lord my God.’”
Joshua 14:9 (NRSV)

“You gotta have heart,
Miles and miles and miles of heart!”

So go the lyrics of the musical Damn Yankees, a Broadway retelling of the Faust legend set around the hapless Washington Senators baseball team. The song came to mind this morning as I read Caleb’s plea to Joshua, reminding him that he’d “wholeheartedly” followed God.

Caleb had been one of the men chosen by Moses to spy out the land some 45 years earlier. Caleb was all for crossing the Jordan River and taking the land, but his partners gave a fear-producing account of what they saw and the campaign was delayed 40 years. But, for his wholehearted faith, Moses promised Caleb the land they’d spied out as his tribe’s inheritance. In today’s chapter, it’s time for the promise to be fulfilled these many years later.

Two things I’m reminded of this morning as I ponder Caleb’s story:

First: Caleb was rewarded for his heart – not his military prowess, his perfect execution of God’s commands, his moral standing, his financial generosity, his intellect, his social savvy, or his popularity. As I journey through God’s Message I find, time and time again, God’s desire is for our hearts. If He has my whole heart, everything else will flow from there.

Second: Sometimes the fulfillment of God’s promises and purposes are a long time in coming. Caleb waited 45 years for his promised inheritance. David was anointed king when he was a kid, but didn’t see the promised fulfilled until he was 40. Abraham and Sarah were in their 90’s before God miraculously produced their promised offspring. In a culture of instant gratification, I so easily get impatient and lose faith. It’s good to be reminded that God’s promises can take a long time to be fulfilled. Those with heart never stop trusting in that fulfillment.

By the way, and speaking of being wholehearted in having faith: The Cubs are 5-1!

Everybody sing!

“You’ve gotta have hope
Mustn’t sit around and mope
Nothin’s half as bad as it may appear
Wait’ll next year and hope”

Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Deuteronomy 3

August 23, 2011 Tom Vander Well 2 Comments

At that same time, I begged God: “God, my Master, you let me in on the beginnings, you let me see your greatness, you let me see your might—what god in Heaven or Earth can do anything like what you’ve done! Please, let me in also on the endings, let me cross the river and see the good land over the Jordan, the lush hills, the Lebanon mountains.” Deuteronomy 3:23-25 (MSG)

When I was young I was called to preach. I’ll spare you the details of how it happened. It’s a story for another day. Preaching and teaching was not an ability I developed or worked at. It was something that I just did and I was good at it. At the same time, I had several friends who were gifted singers and musicians. I loved the way music was so easy for them and I envied the way they could stand up and sing or play and move the audience with their music in powerful ways.

And so, because I envied my friends musical ability I would try hard to sing well and to play music. It was agonizing at first. With practice I became decent at singing and playing. I became competent at it, but I will never be a gifted vocalist or musician. I watched as some of my gifted musical friends tried desperately to communicate through the spoken word. In concerts they insisted on sharing long winded stories and talks between songs. It was agonizing. They weren’t gifted communicators. People wanted them to stop talking and play their music.

Along the journey I’ve noticed this pattern in people. We envy the gifts and abilities of others while failing to appreciate out own. God gives each of us our own gifts and abilities and calls us to serve in a unique way based on those gifts and abilities. We do the same thing with our callings. Moses wanted desperately to cross the Jordan and lead the people into the Promised Land, but that was Joshua’s job; It was what Joshua was called to do. Moses’ calling was to get the people out of Egypt, give them the law, and lead them to the river.

We too often treat our gifts and callings like we do our material possessions. We get bored with what we have and are enamored with what others have. Today I’m reminded that I’ve got to do what I’m gifted and called to do while celebrating what others are gifted and called to do.