Joshua needed encouragement and assurance as he stepped into
the role of primary leader of the people of Israel. I know he needed those things because they
are what the Lord gave him. He needed to
be encouraged to be strong and courageous but he also needed assurance of the presence
of the Lord and he needed to be reminded to walk in the ways of the Law given
to Moses. His prosperity and success
were completely contingent on following the Lord. If he went right or left when the Lord
didn't, he would not have success. If he
strayed from the commandments he would fail.
We are the same, to be strong and courageous but not in our own strength
or our person. Our strength and courage
come from His presence.
Jesus tells his disciples much the same things that were
told to Joshua. They are to be strong
and courageous as they go forward without Him, He will be with them as they go
and they will find success if they abide in Him. He likens the process to a vine and its
branches, the branch must remain connected to the vine if it is to produce
fruit, if not it is useless and will be thrown into the fire. He tells them that abiding is an active
process, keeping His commandments. He abides
in the Father through obedience and says that we will abide in Him by obedience
as well. His promise is greater than
that promised to Joshua, He lives within us, directing our every step if we
will but ask Him and react in obedience.
Do we believe Him for His promises or not?
Faith impelled people to take risks, keep hope in loss and
pain, and press onward. Those who came
before Jesus did so without seeing the fulfillment of the promises made to them
because there was an even greater promise, Jesus. The writer says that God " God "had
provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made
perfect." We who live on this side
of Easter have something greater than any of the patriarchs, better than
anything they could have imagined, the certainty of eternal life because of the
resurrection of Jesus. He is the
firstborn from the dead and firstborn implies there will be more. If we have faith and live by faith, we will
join Him in glory. Let us, therefore, be
very strong and courageous as we run our race all the way to the finish
line. He has promised success and reward
if we do.
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