Canaan

Introduction

So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. (Exodus 3:8—NIV)

"A land flowing with milk and honey"!

The journey of Israel from Egypt to Canaan is a representation of the Christian redemption. We understand that deliverance from Egypt symbolizes our salvation from the world and sin. But exactly what does Canaan, our land of promise, typify?

Canaan cannot represent Heaven. The Christian Church is not moving toward an armed invasion of Heaven! What is our land of promise if it is not Heaven?

The Book of Hebrews terms our inheritance the "rest" of God. The rest of God has to do with the fact that God created everything in six days and rested on the seventh. Thus our task in life is not to plan our own destiny but to find out what God has determined for us from the beginning.

The rest of God has to do also with the Sabbath day. The eternal Sabbath rest is found when we do nothing of ourselves but look to Jesus Christ for all that we think; every word we speak; every deed we perform. This is the way the Lord Jesus always lives—resting in the Person of God.

Indeed, a major part of our Canaan is gained when we are trusting in God to will and to do in our personality all that is pleasing to Himself. Only then can we enter eternal joy.

The highest good, the most splendid circumstance, is achieved when what we desire to do most fervently is that which God desires most fervently that we do. There is nothing better than this in all of existence! Such joining of our will with the will of God is an extremely important aspect of our Canaan.

When we determine to reach out for our inheritance we find it is occupied by the enemy, just as was true of Israel in ancient times. There is no part of our inheritance that is not occupied by the enemy. He will contest every inch of ground, so prepare yourself for a vicious, prolonged fight.

When we came out of Egypt the Lord did all the fighting. When we enter the land of promise we have to do the fighting, and the Lord helps us.

Just as soon as we determine to set our whole personality toward laying hold on God's promises we meet determined opposition.

In other writings we have looked at the rewards to the victorious saint, set forth in the Book of Revelation, as steps toward the first resurrection from the dead—as indeed they are. In this present brief article we will view the same rewards as aspects of our Canaan.

Being, Doing, and Environment