Conquest of Canaan Promised

 

 

Exodus 23:20-33

 

September 26, 2024

 

Conquest of Canaan Promised

“Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared.  Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is in him.

“But if you carefully obey his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.

 “When my angel goes before you and brings you to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, and I blot them out,  you shall not bow down to their gods nor serve them, nor do as they do, but you shall utterly overthrow them and break their pillars in pieces.  You shall serve the Lord your God, and he will bless your bread and your water, and I will take sickness away from among you.  None shall miscarry or be barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days.  I will send my terror before you and will throw into confusion all the people against whom you shall come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you.  And I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites from before you.  I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the wild beasts multiply against you.  Little by little, I will drive them out from before you until you have increased and possess the land.  And I will set your border from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the Euphrates, for I will give the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you.  You shall make no covenant with them and their gods.  They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against me; for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.”

Does the Church have an angel that goes before it?  One man said, I’m not sure, but it's clear, we have a lot of demons that attend each week.  This I can state with 100% accuracy that when one person enters the building we refer to as Church, and they have received Jesus Christ into their lives the Holy Spirit has entered and we are told in the Scripture “Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” (Matthew 18: 19-20)  It requires trust and faith in what God has stated in His word to understand that Jesus is Spirit and He has no limits to what He can do.  

 

I asked Jan this morning if she understood that because of our belief and public confession of faith in Jesus Christ, any time we are with others who have entered into Christ, He is there.  As we give thought to that, it enters my very small mind and my also small faith in a Big God that He is with us in our home, and yet I often act as if He is not.

 

Israel needs to once again know that God is willing to send His angel, and we are told in the Scriptures in Daniel 10:21 tells us who he is, Michael, their Prince.  Israel is once more in a war against those who should have been removed but did not follow the commands of God.  If you read the Scriptures for any reason other than application, then you will miss what was told to Daniel.  It is found in Daniel 10:11-12, “And he said to me, 'O Daniel, man greatly loved, understand the words that I speak to you, and stand upright, for now, I have been sent to you.” And when he had spoken this word to me, I stood up trembling.  Then he said to me, “Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words. “

 

So, you may want to do as I and many others who are followers of Christ, set your heart to understand and humble yourself before God.  But this thought came into my mind, am I ready to be as Paul and Silas were when put in jail for doing good?  It is found in Acts 16:25-30, “About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.  Suddenly, there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once, all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose.  The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped.  But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”

The jailer called for lights, rushed in, and fell trembling before Paul and Silas.  He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

I wonder, would I have been praying and singing hymns, or would I have been yelling for a lawyer?  

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice