LAND OF MILK AND HONEY

“THEY DID EAT OF THE FRUIT OF THE LAND OF CANAAN THAT YEAR.” JOSHUA 5:12

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qFMBMp5QxQ&feature=related

The weary wanderings were all over, and the promised rest was attained. No more moving tents, fiery serpents, fierce Amalekites, and howling wilderness: they came to the land which flowed with milk and honey, and they ate the old corn of the land. Perhaps this year, my beloved, this may be thy case or mine. Joyful is the prospect, and if faith be in active exercise, it will yield unalloyed delight.

To be with Jesus is the rest which remaineth for the people of God, is a cheering hope indeed, and to expect this glory so soon is a double bliss. Unbelief shudders at the Jordan which still rolls between us and the goodly land, but let us rest assured that we have already experienced more ills than death at its worst can cause us. Let us banish every fearful thought, and rejoice with exceeding great joy, in the prospect that this New Year we shall begin to be “for ever with the Lord.”

A part of the host will this year tarry on earth, to do service for their Lord. If this should fall to our lot, there is no reason why the New Year’s text should not still be true. “We who have believed do enter into rest.” The Holy Spirit is the earnest of our inheritance; He gives us “glory.” In Heaven they are secure, and so are we preserved in Christ Jesus; there they triumph over their enemies, and we have victories too.

Celestial spirits enjoy communion with their Lord, and this is not denied to us; they rest in His love, and we have perfect peace in Him: they hymn His praise, and it is our privilege to bless Him too. We will this year gather celestial fruits on earthly ground, where faith and hope have made the desert like the garden of the Lord. Man did eat Angels’ food of old, and why not now? O for grace to feed on Jesus, and so it is, to eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan this New Year!

May the Lord, this New Year, in the second decade of the 21^st Millennium, grant you all of the desires of your heart that is consistent with God’s will for your life! Be blessed, this day and all the days of your life!