Deut. i. 21. Behold, the Lord thy God hath set the land before thee: go up, and possess it, as the Lord thy God hath said unto thee: fear not, neither be discouraged.
THE journeyings of the Israelites in the wilderness afford an inexhaustible fund of instruction to us. The history of their deliverance from Egypt, their trials and supports, and their final entrance into the land of Canaan, so exactly corresponds with the experience of believers in their journey heaven-ward, that we are never at a loss for an illustration of that which is in- visible, from that which actually took place amongst God's ancient people.
The Israelites, after one year spent in the wilderness, were now arrived on the very confines of Canaan : and the exhortation which I have now read to you, was part of the address of Moses to them, encouraging them to go up and take possession of the land. And, assuming (what I need not now stand to prove) the justness of the parallel between their state and ours, the words before us contain,
I. The command given us in reference to the promised land —
There is for us, as there was for Israel, " a rest" prepared9. And we are here bidden to take possession of it,
1 . By right, as the gift of God —
[Canaan was given to Abraham and his seed by God himself: and the grant was confirmed with an oath, that the possession of it should infallibly be secured to themb. God had a right to bestow it upon whomsoever he would: and they to whom he should assign it had a perfect right to occupy it. The former possessors were no more than tenants at will : and, if God saw fit to dispossess them, and to let it out to other husbandmen, no injury was done to them, either on the part of the Great Proprietor, or on the part of those whom he appointed to succeed to the inheritance. This I say, in order to satisfy the minds of those who, through ignorance of the
a Heb. iv. 8, 9. This passage sufficiently proves the parallel that is here assumed. b ver. 8.