Understanding God's Gift of Inheritance

Judges, chapter two, beginning with verse six for this evening, this book was written a long time after the events took place. And you could sort of say that in this chapter, the writer is trying to explain to the people of Israel, how did we get in the situation that we're in? He's framing a reference for the book of Judges to explain why the things that took place in this book occurred the way they did. How did we get here? What happened that caused the circumstances we see that are one series of tragedies after another take place? It's not easy for people to recognize or identify the spiritual issues behind the disasters that they come to. They tend to see the disasters that come on them as just accidents or circumstances that occur. But this story is given us to help us understand why disaster does come to people. Now, chapter one of the book of Judges tells the story of their entering the land of promise. And as it tells the story, it's describing what happened. They began by asking God to give directions. He told them that Judah would be the one to begin the conquest of the land. And then it starts telling about each of the tribes and the conquest they had, the things that they did that were contrary to what God said they should do. But most of chapter one up to chapter two, verse five, is sort of a political description of what happened to the nation of Israel and a military description of what took place in their battles. When you come to chapter two, it's the introduction to the book again. Chapter one is really an introduction to the book, but it's talking about how things occurred. If you were standing there as a human being, looking at all these events that took place, and you were like a newspaper reporter, and you would write down what took place, just what the human eyes see, that's what chapter one up through verse five of chapter two is really about. Starting at chapter two, and you'll realize, of course, that the people that wrote these books didn't make the chapters and verses, or they would have made the break of chapter one after chapter two, verse five, because it's a full story. The chapter two starts with verse six, or the second section of this story starts with chapter six. It's also an introduction to the book. So there are two introductions to the book of Judges. One of them from a human standpoint, and the second of them from God's point of view. Oftentimes, the things that happen to us, we see them from the physical side. My eyes see what other people do, and my ears hear what other people say, and so I can only describe the events that take place by what the eye can see, and the ear can hear, and the hand can touch. But God sees things dramatically different than we do, because he sees in the minds and hearts of people what's taking place in their thinking, and he sees consequences to the way people live that we don't always see. You see somebody who seems to have difficulty in their life, and tragedy comes, or circumstances are terrible for them, and sometimes we look at it and we have no idea why these things happen. But sometimes they're the result of things that they've done, and they're consequences to choices that they've made. And oftentimes when people want to get a solution, they come to the result of their consequences, and not back where it started. Many people, whenever they're in disaster, they want that disaster to stop. But if you begin to talk to them about how they got here, it has to go way back in the background where they made the first decisions to turn to a different direction. And in that point, they made their choice that consequently ended in the disaster that they're currently in. How did we get here is this story. So they tell it in the first part, saying, well, here are the wars that we had, here are the things that took place. Now we turn to the second stage of this, chapter 2, beginning with verse 6. This first verse is sort of a repeat for us. If you look at the end of chapter 24 of the book of Joshua, you'll see a very similar story. Chapter 24 of Joshua, verses 28 through verse 30. Joshua, it's one page back from where you're at. There you go. Verse 28, and then Joshua sent the people away to his own inheritance. After these things, Joshua, son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110. He was buried behind, and they buried him in the land of his inheritance at Timnath-serah, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gash. Then this one, chapter 2, beginning with verse 6, says, after Joshua dismissed the Israelites, they went and took possession of the land, each to his own inheritance. This is the same reply, there's the same circumstance. Joshua is buried in his inheritance. Now, I want to focus on the word inheritance. This sounds like somebody died and left something to you. That's what we normally think of the inheritance. In this passage, the people of Israel go out and conquer the land, and then God gave each family and each person a plot of land that was theirs. So there was no death involved in this inheritance issue. Instead, what it looks like is the people of Israel went out and fought a battle. They defeated the people who lived on this land, and they occupied the land. It was theirs. So it looks like it was land that they bought by their battle and their effort. But the Bible doesn't see it that way. All this land belonged to God. It was His. Now, they fought the enemy who were staying on the land and drove them off. But the land actually belonged to God. And when God made the promise to Abraham that He was going to give them this land, He was telling Abraham, this is my land to give you. So the Israelites, the Bible sees this situation in terms of God giving to His children a plot of land. Like a landowner who owns a lot of land might say to his son, Now, this is the land I'm going to give you to live on. It's my gift to you. We might say that's an inheritance. In a sense, the father doesn't necessarily have to die. But you could say, this is your inheritance. It's what you're going to get from me. So the people of Israel, conquering this land, have it divided up and given to them. But it is not what they earned. It is not what they won and achieved. It was a gift from God. From the very beginning, it was His. He apportioned it to Abraham and his descendants. And now He is prepared to make that gift to them. So that's why the Bible says, After Joshua had dismissed the Israelites, they went to take possession of the land, each to his own inheritance. This was a gift given from God to them. They received it as that. Now, the Bible here starts talking about what took place when that happened. Remember, in the first chapter, they're talking about the battles and who went out to fight and what areas they conquered. Here in verse 7, he says, The people served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua. So the Bible is referencing the behavior of the people who were the fighters, who were the peers of Joshua. They fought, they served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua, the people. Now, what he's saying here when he's talking about the people served the Lord. All the way back in Deuteronomy, when Moses was giving the emphasis to Joshua about what was to take place and what they were to do. And when the Lord was asking Moses what he was asking Moses to be able to do. He was pointing to the purpose that they were there for. This chapter 6 of the book of Deuteronomy, Moses is talking to them about what's going to take place. And here he is forecasting the way by which they are to live when they get to the land of promise. In Deuteronomy chapter 6, beginning at verse 20. In the future, when your son asks you, what is the meaning of the stipulation, decrees, and laws, the Lord our God has commanded you, tell them, we were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. Before our eyes, the Lord sent miraculous signs and wonders, great and terrible on Egypt and Pharaoh and his whole household. But he brought us out from there to bring us in and give us the land that he promised on oath to our forefathers. The Lord commanded us to obey all these decrees, to fear the Lord our God, so that we might always prosper and be kept alive, as is the case today. And if we are careful to obey all the law before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness. Now, the Ten Commandments he's talking about, plus all of the other laws that explain what the Ten Commandments are. And he does not describe the followers of God as people who were Israelites. So many people, when they talk about their own spiritual lives, they might say, I was baptized. Or they might say, I made a profession of faith. Or they might say, I was saved. Or they might say, they belong to a church. What God has described here as a picture of his people is a picture of people who serve him. Service to God is seen as the mark of someone who is what we would call saved, living their life of servanthood toward God. And what is the servanthood? It is not necessarily what we would say as working in the church. The servanthood is living by the commandments that God has given us. For example, all the Ten Commandments and all the commandments throughout the law in the Old Testament. From the kind of clothes you wore, to the kind of food that you would eat, to how you would treat your neighbor when his ox got into your garden or your fields. The way you would treat people who were in trouble. How you would treat people that were angry with you. All of these commandments are what they called serving God. Controlling the behavior and attitude that they had toward each other. And the attitude that they had toward God. Service to God was a mark of being the people of God. So Moses, when he is talking to the people of Israel, he is saying, when you get to the land of promise, what will mark you is if you serve the Lord faithfully all the time that you are there. Be careful to obey all this law before the Lord your God as he had commanded us. That will be our righteousness. Righteousness is the result of doing all the things in the Old Testament. Sometimes we think of righteousness with regard to morality. Did you kill anybody? Did you steal anything? But in the Old Testament, it is all the commands of God. When you do the commands, you are serving God. In the New Testament, Paul talks very much in the same vein. In Romans chapter 12, when he is talking about following God, and he is talking about giving your body as a living sacrifice to God, which is what worship really is. Everybody worships when you make choices that reflect the instructions of God. And by that I mean, if for example, someone does something that hurts your feelings, or treats you badly, or even cheats you, and you get really angry about it, and you are thinking in your mind what you could do to get even with this person, or even you are just mad at them because of what they have done, and you are boiling and boiling and boiling about it, and you are ready to get upset with them and say something to them that would put them in their place. And then you, as you think about this, it occurs to you that the Bible says you are to be angry and sin not. And the moment you catch this in your mind, you realize your anger must go away, because you are getting led to the place where you are going to do something contrary to what God wants. You are going to hurt somebody, either physically, or emotionally, or psychologically by what you do. So when you recognize this, your human nature is saying, get even, tell them off, tell everybody about what they have done to you. And God is saying, forgive them, for they are under control of Satan, and pray for them. And you are caught between these tugs of your own human nature, and what you know God says you should do. So you make a choice. Which of these am I going to let control my behavior right now? And when you say, I am going to do what God tells me to do, you have acknowledged God, placed Him in a position of authority over your life, get this, placed Him in a position of authority over your life, and you submit to His request, or command, that you not get even with someone, but instead that you forgive them, and turn the other cheek. You do this not because you want to, but because the Master has told you what is right. And when you look at God as if He was in control of your life, you are putting Him in your life in the ultimate place of authority. He is in control. You are exalting Him. And so when you stop and you say, this is what I would like to do, and if I did it, everyone around me would say, yeah, He deserves it, but I am going to turn the other cheek, and I am going to forgive Him, because it matters to me that God would say, you heard me, you are my child, and you did what I wanted. That is worship. That is what the Bible calls worship. And I know we call worship going to church and singing songs, but that is not what worship is. Now, worship, when you sing songs, and you are thinking of how great God is, that can be worship too. But if your lifestyle, the book of Amos, you know, God said to Beth, the people of Israel, I hate your songs. I don't like it when you sing to me. Because your life doesn't match your songs. The song is only valuable when you say, I love you, Lord. I love you, Lord. It is only real to God if you actually love Him. It is like, you know, if a husband and wife are married, and the wife has been unfaithful to the husband, and he knows about it, and she comes up and says, I love you so much. He is likely to say, well, why don't you show it? That don't mean anything to me. In fact, it makes me mad that you are telling me this when I know your behavior is different. So, whenever songs match the lifestyle, worship occurs. But the Bible talks about service. In fact, the word for worship in the Bible is the word for service to God. So, here He is describing what is to take place. You are to live your life with God directing you, submitting to His authority, and doing what He tells you to do. That is what your purpose is. And when you do that, then you will be able to experience what I want you to be like. That is Moses' instruction to him. So, verse 7 of chapter 2 says, The people served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived Him. So, in the very beginning, what was taking place was God was actually, the people of Israel were actually doing what God wanted them to do. When they settled in the land, they kept the promises that were made, they read the instructions that God had given them, and they were living this. All the life of Joshua until he died. Now, the next step in this second part of verse 7, and of the elders who outlived him. Now, we are talking about Joshua's generation, and then we are talking about Caleb who was alive in Joshua's generation, but he was one of the younger people. Throughout Joshua's life and the people who were his age, then there came Caleb and the people his age, and they followed God. So that two generations of people were faithful in being obedient to God. And then he says about Joshua and the elders, and who had seen all the great things the Lord had done for Israel. Both the generation of Joshua and the generation of Caleb, had experienced all the great things that God had done. The delivery from Egypt, the battle to win the land, they saw the miracles that God performed, and they saw His mighty power, and they saw His hand on their lives, and they experienced this first hand. So that the commandments of God and the instructions of God were very important to them because they saw what God did. And from personal experience, they knew that if they were faithful in serving God, His power would provide, protect, and care for them. And then the next section of this, Joshua, the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110. They buried him in the land of his inheritance at Temna, Heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gash. Whenever the land of Canaan was occupied, they gave to Joshua a particular place in the tribe of Ephraim, a city, a town, a location. So when he died, he was taken to the place that the people had given him as an honor for his leadership in the conquering the land. Now verse 10, After that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation grew up, who knew neither the Lord nor what He had done for Israel. This is the final section of this introduction. Here's what happened. The people had seen all that took place in the land of Canaan. The people who saw what took place in Egypt and at the desert wandering were all now dead and gone. Now there was a generation, it says, who knew neither the Lord nor what He had done for Israel. Now the Bible doesn't necessarily mean by knowing like what we might think of, like, do you know two plus two is four? It's mental knowledge in your head. What we would use is a different way of saying it. That's like saying, if you've been married, then you know what marriage is. What marriage is. We don't mean that you read a book to see what it was. We mean by saying that, that you have personal experience so that you understand what it means for a man and a woman to be married. You understand what it means to live with someone day by day. You understand what it means to deal with the issues that come up in human relationships and marriage. They're different than what come up between friends. So you know marriage because you have experienced it. Joshua and Caleb and those two generations had experienced what took place. Joshua had experienced the time in the wilderness. He'd experienced the time whenever they're getting ready to go into the land of promise and the people wouldn't go. He saw the disaster that took place. He was there.