In Search of the Promised Land

Last week, we left the children of Israel wandering in the wilderness. There were no signposts to guide them. There was no real security to comfort them. At best, they had Mana and quail to eat. There was always enough for today, but when they had enough, the Mana melted and quail disappeared. The only assurance was this: God had spoken to Moses from the burning bush and they were led by a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.

We talked about our wilderness experience today. There’s never been a Day in History when the foundations of life have been shaken so badly as today. Today we have coined a new term “the credibility gap.” This term describes what was supposed to be told to the American people about Vietnam and what the real Vietnam story is. Did you ever stop to think there may be a gap between what our State Department knew and what was true on the ground? 

The credibility gap is only one of the gaps of our day. One of the great gaps in this wilderness is the generation gap. We used cycle generations approximately every 33 years, but now changes are taking place so fast that an equivalent cycle for a generation is 4 years. It is so hard to communicate with our children today, because they are five and six generations removed from us. I’ve been out of college 24 years. My boys are studying subjects and courses that weren’t even invented in my college days. 

Another great gap is the ever-growing gap between the haves and the have nots. Our gross national product, our wealth, our living standards are growing so fast that the gap between us and Africa has increased tenfold since World War Two. There is another great gap between production and distribution. How do we distribute our plenty to the have nots? How do we distribute our plenty to the hungry and starving in India? These are uncharted courses in our wilderness experience.

Now we come to today’s concern. At last, the children of Israel encountered the Jordan River. Behind them is the bondage in Egypt. Behind them are the hardships of the wilderness. Ahead is the promised land. The people had a great idea. Let’s send spies to check out the new land. In fact, they got the idea from God. So, they picked the headman from each tribe and sent them across the River Jordan into the promised land. 

A strange thing happened when the spies came back. They all brought back a good report about the productivity of the land. Indeed, it was a land flowing with milk and honey. But from here on out the report was split down the middle. Two spies, Caleb and Joshua, said: “Let’s go in at once and occupy the land. We can do it. Sure, it’s going to be tough for us, but if the Lord delights in us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us.” 

But the majority report was entirely different. The people in the promised land are strong. The cities are fortified and very large. The sons of Anak is a tribe of giants. They are guarding the cities. We just don’t have it. We could never conquer the promised land. And sure, enough the children of Israel were ready to accept the majority report. They’d rather stay in the wilderness than go into the promised land. Better still they want to go back to the good old days of Egypt.

Today, I believe our Jordan River is ahead of us. On the other side of that River stands the promised land. There are fearsome things in our promised land. Some spies have gone across and have brought a distressing report. This is the day of Armageddon. We now have a world for the first time divided and two armed camps. We now have the ultimate weapons to destroy mankind. 

One need only listen to some of the preachers today, to hear these prophecies of doom. There is the playwright of “On the Beach.” We see banners streaming in the wind: “There is still time brother,” while dust and paper are blowing in the empty world, where the last man has been annihilated. 

Look at it from the standpoint of population explosion. We live in a limited spaceship world. We have an economy totally based on using the atmosphere and crust of the earth to survive. Population growth seems limitless and the resources are very limited, which can lead to the ultimate destruction for all of us.

Then there is the world of depersonalization. We are moving towards a world much like the large prisons, where every man is given a number when he enters, and it stays with him until the end of his term. He no longer needs a name. All he needs is a number. 

Young people know something about this in our computerized schools. Last spring, one boy got a report card that said he had flunked lunch. This is what some of these spies are saying today. 

Thank God there are still the Calebs and Joshuas today. For Caleb and Joshua, God was the Lord of history. They were the pilgrim people led by God. He brought them through the wilderness, and he would lead them into the promised land. Sure, the cities were strong and fortified. There are the Nephilim who are giants, and the people are many and fierce. But the possibilities of the promised land are unlimited. The fruit was so plentiful it took two men to carry the samples. Whoever thought of these possibilities in our world? 

Today in our world, for the first time, we are looking at a world where all people have good health. Last night I heard a physician say that from new research in medicine, we might learn to treat the disease in unborn children. Think of the unbelievable strides we have made in medicine. My boyhood fear was polio. There was not one case in Oregon last year. Think of the possibilities of a world neighborhood. War may be abandoned because we just cannot afford the risk. Think of the possibilities, for example, think of each person truly having a meaningful vocation. We are in the verge of matching every person to a job that is perfectly suited for them through vocational testing. We could have the full employment of people who work in their vocation of choice. Think of the possibilities. What if everyone could have a real vacation each year, a time for leisure where everybody could have time for contemplation, continuing education, and recreation. Think of the possibilities of people being whole people again.

Let me give you a beautiful model for what may be. “Revelation: The Book of the New People of God.” This is a model for new people who are in the wilderness of the world. The beast is trying to crush them out of the world. But these people bet their life on the Lamb of God. The big question in Revelation is: “Will the church survive the mad Holocaust of the Roman persecution?” But how does the Book of Revelation end? The Lamb becomes the Lion and the tribe of Judah. This Lion of the tribe of Judah is Christ, on whom the church has bet their lives. He has come down riding his white charger at the head of an army of people of God. The beast is destroyed and at the end of the book the New Jerusalem comes down out of heaven among men on earth. 

Now the New Jerusalem is set up on earth, where the beast of Rome had destroyed the old Jerusalem. The dwelling place of God is with men. And he will wipe away all the tears from their eyes. And death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for these former things are now passed away. 

We miss the boat when we think it is the prophet speaking of heaven here. This is the great philosophy of history of the church. We the church have bet our life on the Lord of history. We must go out into the world following our Lord on his White Horse of righteousness. There can be no mistaking it. The early church had the event of the resurrection to prove it. The future was the resurrected Christ and they had bet their lives on him. No beast of Rome could take this hope away from them. 

We stand on the verge of a new promised land. This could be the promised land of all promised lands. May no Nephilim, no sons of Anak, no Giants or walled city deter us. May no beast of Rome intimidate us. Christ is still the Lord of history. He rides again on his charger of white out into the world. May we follow in his train until the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our God. And our New Jerusalem comes down from heaven as a bride adorned for her husband. 

Now we can cry out, “Behold the dwelling place of God is with men, and he shall dwell with them and they shall be his people and he will be their God.”