Day 86: Joshua 16-18

Welcome to 5 -Minute Bible, your daily guide for your daily reading. Today is March 27th and we will be looking at Joshua 16 -18.

Today's reading continues the division of the promised land but something begins to shift beneath the surface.

The battles have quieted and the land is being assigned and yet a new tension begins to emerge.

The issue is no longer whether the promise is real, the issue is whether the people are actually going to step into it.

Joshua 16 -18 shows us that receiving God's promise and possessing it are not always the same thing.

Joshua 16 -17 shows us that the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, the sons of Joseph, and their inheritance is large and central and strategically important and on paper it is a position of strength.

But as the land is described a pattern quickly appears, the Canaanites are still there. Instead of driving them out completely,

Israel allows them to remain and eventually subjects them to forced labor. And it looks like a kind of control but it actually is a compromise.

Partial obedience begins to settle into the people. And that compromise leads directly into complaint.

The tribes of Joseph come to Joshua and argue that their portion is not enough. And Joshua doesn't expand their borders, he redirects their perspective, if they need more room then they need to go take it.

The forest must be cleared, the enemies must be driven out, the problem is not the size of the inheritance, it's their unwillingness to fully possess it.

Then Joshua 18 widens the lens because seven tribes have still not taken their inheritance at all.

The land is before them, it's assigned and it's ready and yet it remains open still. And Joshua confronts them with a direct question, how long are you going to delay in taking possession of what the

Lord has given you? The land is then surveyed and distributed, removing every excuse and what remains is not uncertainty but a decision.

And as you read today, I want you to ask the following question, why do we hesitate to step into what

God has already provided? Joshua 16 through 18 shows us that delay rarely comes from the lack of the promise, it usually comes from hesitation and fear and misplaced comfort.

And the central pattern in these chapters is this, possession is delayed by hesitation.

God has already done the decisive work, the land has been given, the inheritance has been assigned, the promise is secure and yet the people respond in two very revealing ways.

Some compromise, settling for partial obedience, others delay entirely doing nothing at all and both responses fall short but this pattern shows up in our lives today as well.

It is possible to affirm God's promises and to speak about them, even to celebrate them while never fully stepping into them.

Faith, therefore, is not only agreement, it's action. It moves us forward, it clears the ground, it confronts the resistance, it takes hold of what

God has already said belongs to us. And Joshua's words cut through every single excuse.

The issue is not in what God has given, the issue is whether his people are going to walk in it.

And in that, these chapters clearly point forward to Jesus Christ because the land represents inheritance, rest, and the fulfillment of God's promises and in the

New Testament that inheritance expands into the kingdom that is secured by Christ, the whole world.

Through his life, death, and resurrection, the decisive victory have already been won. Jesus has promised us the nations and yet the

Christian life carries the same tension that we see in Israel. What Christ has secured must now be walked in.

The kingdom has been established, the world belongs to Christ, and the question is, are we going to take possession of it?

Are we going to move forward? Are we going to take possession? Are we going to drive out the enemies of God? Are we going to continue to advance his kingdom?

Are we going to continue to build his kingdom? Are we going to do nothing or are we going to do something?

The question that existed in the book of Joshua exists for the church today. Israel's hesitation exposed something deeper about the human heart and our hesitation today exposes that that sin is still not far removed from us.

But there is one difference because instead of Joshua being the one who is reminding the people of the promises of God, we have

Christ. We have Christ who does not delay, does not compromise, and does not retreat. And he accomplishes fully what his people could not, and by his spirit he is going to lead his people forward into the fullness of what has been promised so that one day the world will be filled with the knowledge of God as the water covers the sea, and Jesus is going to use his church to do it.

So as you read Joshua 16 -18, I want you to feel the tension between promise and possession. The land is theirs, but yet many hesitate to take it.

And tomorrow we're going to see how the inheritance continues to unfold along with the establishment of cities of refuge, as well as showing how justice and mercy are built into the life of the land.

And with that, read your Bible carefully, devotionally, and joyfully, and may the Lord use his word to sanctify you completely, and we will continue our journey tomorrow.