God’s People need to Match God in order to be Qualified to Inherit the Good Land

The book of Deuteronomy speaks of the kind of person who is qualified to inherit the good land; we need to match God in what He is, that is, the inheritors need to match the Giver of the inheritance!

This week in our morning revival we come to the topic of, Becoming Qualified to Inherit the Promised Land.

There is a progression in the first five books of the Bible, the Pentateuch, which were written by Moses; they picture the stages of the Lord’s work and the pathway of the church to arrive at the very border of the good land.

And Deuteronomy poses this very important question, Would you like to possess the good land? Are you qualified to enter into the good land to possess it and enjoy it?

Genesis begins in a glorious way with God’s recreating work consummating in His masterpiece – man; then His enemy, Satan, comes in and causes man to have stage after stage of fall. Eventually Jehovah seems to tell Satan, Is that all you can do?

God comes in to call Abraham and his race, promising him the good land and a seed. Then Genesis is a story of the good land, and it ends on a sad note, with Joseph being buried in a coffin in Egypt.

Exodus continues from here; exodus means a way out – which not only means that the children of Israel had a way out of Egypt but also that they were to have a way back to the good land!

In Exodus we see God’s salvation of His people for them to return to the good land. God’s calling of His serving one – Moses – is not just to deliver the children of Israel out of Egypt but even more, to bring them into the good land.

The stage of the children of Israel in the wilderness is a type of what we see in 1 Corinthians, where Christ is so many tings for us to enjoy.

Then in 2 Corinthians we see that we are taken from merely aspects of what Christ is into Christ Himself as the holiest of all, as our good land.

There, in the good land, we are to have a particular kind of living; this living is portrayed in Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians. Our living in the good land is by living Christ, magnifying Christ, being one with Christ, and expressing Christ.

Exodus ends with the erection and completion of the tabernacle.

In Leviticus we see the need to be trained to be a clean, holy, and rejoicing people so that we would be as holy as God is and live in the good land.

For this we need the burnt offering; God is hungry, He needs to eat, and we want to give Him something as food – we need to give Him the offerings by experiencing Christ as the reality of all the offerings every morning, every night, every week, every month, every year, and every feast.

God needs to bring into the good land a group of people who care about Him, meet His need, and want to take Him, be identified with Him, match Him, and satisfy Him.

In Numbers we see how God’s people are formed into an army, moving with God as their goal, their way, their destination, and their everything for their entry into the good land.

Numbers seems to present a story full of difficulties, struggles, and failures, but it actually presents a story of triumph, victory, and brilliant shining!

Even though we see failure after failure, we also see that there is a learning through these failures; the book ends with astounding military victories and a renumbered new people standing at the border of the good land ready to go in!

Then we come to Deuteronomy, which is a supplement and a continuation to Numbers; in this book we are at the border of the good land and we’re asked, Are we ready and qualified to go into the good land?

In Deuteronomy we see three main things: this book manifests God, it exposes man, and it reveals Christ.

On one hand in this book we see how God gives the land to His people; He set the good land before them and manifested His love, concern, and intention regarding His people – this is a manifestation of who God is.

Deuteronomy also exposes man, showing us who we are, how we are not qualified to enter into the good land, we cannot enter the land, and we don’t have a way to do it. Also, this book reveals Christ – He is the secret, He is the way to go into the land to enjoy Christ and live in the land with longevity.

God’s People need to Match God in what He is: they have to be Holy as He is Holy

The book of Deuteronomy speaks of the kind of person who is qualified to inherit the promised land of Canaan as the good land (Deut. 1:8, 21).

God has set the land before His people with divine with much consideration, so they had to go in and possess it, without having any fear or being dismayed.

The entire salvation of God, including our experience of Him and our living Christ and having a life absolutely in Him, is provided and offered to us with a condition – it is all ours, but we need to be a certain kind of person.

As God’s people we need to match God in what He is (Deut. 4:20, 40; 10:12-21).

The heavens and the heavens of heavens belong to Jehovah; yet He set His heart on us, because He loves us and He wants to give us the good land.

But we are not worthy of this; so we need to circumcise the foreskin of our heart which is contaminated, fallen, unworthy, and lacking correspondence, and we are stiff-necked.

But our God executes justice for the orphan, takes care of the widow, loves the sojourner and the poor, and gives them food and clothing.

This One who is higher than the heavens and who sets His heart on us reveals to us who He is so that we may be the same as He is.

We as the inheritors of the good land need to match the Giver of the inheritance, so that He would be with us both in our living and in our fighting (Deut. 1:8; 4:1-2, 5-9).

Just as we see in Song of Songs, God takes us – one who doesn’t match Him at all – and, through intimate relationship and affection, He causes the one who doesn’t match to match Him!

This is the story of the Bible: God comes in to us and makes us the same as He is!

As we engage the Lord and are carried along by Him in intimate relationship and fellowship, we can live with Him and match Him to the point that we can fight with Him to enter into the land and possess the good land.

In order for us to match God as the Giver of the inheritance, we need to be holy as He is holy (Lev. 11:44; 19:2; 20:7; 1 Pet. 1:16).

Our God is holy, and He wants to be as holy as He is holy. He is not set apart, uncommon, and separated from anything and anyone else, and He also wants us to be the same as He is by sanctifying us.

God is sanctified, and we need to also be sanctified; for us to match Him and enjoy the inheritance, we must match the Giver of the inheritance, being as holy as He is holy.

Holiness doesn’t mean sinlessness or perfection; to be holy is to be sanctified, separated unto God – it is to be different and distinct from everything that is common!

So we need to be saturated and soaked with God and His holy element so that we may be as holy as He is holy!

We become holy by having God in us; we become more holy by us being in God; we become the holiest by being mingled, permeated, and saturated with God, with the result of becoming the New Jerusalem, the holy city (Rev. 21:2, 10).

Through His salvation God separates us unto Himself, and He as the Holy One comes into us to make us holy as He is holy; the consummation of this process is that we become the holy city, New Jerusalem!

Lord Jesus, thank You for loving us and setting Your heart on us to give us the all-inclusive Christ as the good land for our possession and enjoyment. We are not worthy; we are contaminated, fallen, and stiff-necked, but You come to us, You infuse us with Your element, and You make us holy even as You are holy! Amen, Lord, may we be made the people who match the Giver of the inheritance so that You may be with us both in our living and in our fighting. We love You, Lord Jesus, and we open to You; we want to cooperate with Your sanctifying work so that we may be made holy even as You are holy!

Christ Supplies us and Makes us those who Love God, Trust in God, Fear God, Mind the Tender Feelings of God, and Live in God’s Presence

Those who are qualified to inherit the good land know God’s heart and His government; they love God, trust in God, fear God, subject themselves to God’s ruling, mind the tender feelings of God, and live in the presence of God (Deut. 10:12; 6:5; 2 Cor. 10:13; Luke 6:36; Phil. 1:8).

As we are standing on the precipice of living in the realm of this marvelous Person, we need to eventually live in the presence of God, and we need to match God to live in this land.

First we need to know God’s heart and what He intends; He is manifested to us through His word, and we can know what He has intended for us from eternity past. He wants to give Himself to us in all that He is, all He has done, and all He will do; He wants to give all this to us.

If we are going to have all this, we need to know His heart of love toward us, and be those who are willing to be under His government.

Are we the people willing to be under God’s government? God’s government complements our love for Him and even proceeds our love for Him by our fearing and honoring Him.

When we love God and subject yourselves under God’s ruling, we can know His mind and His tender feelings, the things that really matter to Him, and we can be made those who care for Him practically, specifically, finely, repetitively, and comprehensively until He finds full satisfaction in us, for we respond to His tender feelings.

In this way we can be those who live in the presence of God as the good land.

This is the profile of a person who is qualified to enter into and inherit the good land.

How can we do this? In ourselves we cannot accomplish this; rather, God’s requirement that we would match Him exposes us, for none of us can accomplish this.

But praise the Lord, Christ is the One who supplies us, sustains us, and makes us those who love God, trust in God, fear God, subject ourselves to God’s ruling, mind the tender feelings of God, and live in God’s presence (Matt. 8:9; Luke 7:13; John 6:57; 14:6; 1 John 3:2).

We should not lose heart when we hear the high requirements of God; rather, we need to realize that Christ as the word of God comes to sustain us and make us those who love God, fear God, subject ourselves to God’s ruling, mind the tender feelings of God, and live in God’s presence.

We simply need to have a morning revival with the Lord through His living word and have a daily victory through Him as the word of God, and we will become those qualified to inherit the good land.

We need to contact Christ and enjoy Him in His word; He will supply us, sustain us, and make us those who are qualified to partake of the good land, for He will make us those who match Himself!

Lord Jesus, we come to You in Your living word to enjoy You and know You; we open to You, Lord, so that You may supply us, sustain us, and make us those who match God to be qualified to enjoy the good land. We acknowledge that in ourselves we are not qualified, but Christ as the living word of God can make us those who know God’s heart and His government! Amen, Lord, we want to be those who love God, trust in God, fear God, subject ourselves to God’s ruling, mind the tender feelings of God, and live in the presence of God! Bring us on with You, Lord, until we all enter into the full enjoyment and living in the good land!

Read this article in the Romanian language / citiți acest articol și în limba română la următorul link, Poporul lui Dumnezeu trebuie să se potrivească cu Dumnezeu pentru a fi calificați pentru a moșteni țara bună.

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. Rick Scatterday for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Deuteronomy, pp. 16-17 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Deuteronomy, week 5, The Goodness of the Land — Its Minerals.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Thou hast, by Thy Holy Spirit, / Made us holy unto Thee; / And our spirit, soul, and body / Wholly sanctified will be. / Oh! the holy life of Jesus / Thru Thy grace we now possess; / Thou wilt make us e’en partakers / Of Thy very holiness. (Hymns #22)
  – In no other way could we be / Sanctified and share Thy vict’ry; / Thus only spiritual we’ll be / And touch the life of glory. (Hymns #501)
  – Lord, how we bless Thee for this land, / The all-inclusive Christ! / We’ve eaten Him, we’re filled with Him, / O how He has sufficed! / Teach us to labor constantly / Upon this vast reality; / This is our joy, this our employ— / Christ our land! (Hymns #1164)