If, as has been stated, Abraham and his seed have not yet entered the promised land, how does that harmonize with the statement in Joshua 30:43-45?
It is hardly correct to say that the children of Israel did not enter into the promised land, and that has not been stated in Present Truth. What has been said is this, that the promises to Abraham and to His seed have not yet been fulfilled.
This we shall now proceed to examine from the Scripture, and afterwards we will compare it with the text referred to in Joshua. We shall find, as we study the question, that it is not a matter of dogma, but that: "Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope." (Romans 15:4)
Most of the trouble over God's promises, as to their fulfillment, etc., arises from a misunderstanding of what He has promised. We must therefore begin at the beginning, and know exactly what God promised Abraham.
The first statement of the promise is this: "Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get out of your country, and from your kindred, and from your father's house, unto a land that I will show you: I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. And I will bless them that bless you, and curse him that curses you; and in you shall all families of the earth be blessed." (Genesis 12:1-3)
This promise was the proclamation of the Gospel, and would be fulfilled only in Christ; for: "The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the Gospel beforehand unto Abraham, saying, In you shall all the nations be blessed." (Galatians 3:8,RV)
And the blessing promised to Abraham comes only through the cross of Christ; for we read that: "Christ [was] made a curse for us [in hanging on the tree], That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith." (Galatians 3:13-14)
Now the work of the Gospel is not yet complete, and many more souls are yet to be gathered out from among the Gentiles by the preaching of the cross; therefore it is evident that the complete object of the promise has not yet been met.
Again: when God made a covenant with Abraham, promising to give him the land of Canaan for an inheritance, He said: "Know of a surety that your seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; And also that nation whom they serve will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. And you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall come here again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full." (Genesis 15:13-16)
This plainly tells us that there could be no thought of inheriting the land until after four hundred years, during which time Abraham was to die and be buried. Now, even though the seed of Abraham had fully realized the promise at the end of four hundred years, it is evident that it could not have been realized by Abraham, except by his resurrection. But that did not take place, consequently the complete realization of the promise is, to Abraham and his seed, still a future event.
We know well that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob did not inherit the land of Canaan, for we read: "By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing where he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: For he looked for a city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth." (Hebrews 11:8-10)
Strangers and Sojourners
So we see that neither Abraham nor his seed (for Isaac and Jacob were his seed) inherited the land. They were strangers and sojourners in the land of promise; and many years afterward, when their descendants had been settled in Palestine for centuries, and the kingdom of Israel was at the height of its glory, David, the king, prayed thus before the vast assembly of his people: "We are strangers before You, and sojourners, as were all our fathers; our days on the earth are few, and there is none abiding." (1 Chronicles 29:15)
Still further: That the fullness of the promised inheritance has not yet been realized, is evident from the fact that the land promised embraced nothing less than the whole earth. This we know from the following: "For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith." (Romans 4:13)
Much more evidence might be cited, but this is sufficient. We might add, however, that the fact that "the fathers" died in faith, not having received the promise, is proof that in order to receive it they must have a resurrection. But the resurrection of the dead takes place only at the coming of Christ; hence it is then that we must yet expect the consummation. "These all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise; God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect." (Hebrews 11:39-40)
For we must not forget that all believers are Abraham's seed, and heirs of the promise to him. Consequently we have an equal interest with him in the promise. That promise was confirmed to him by an oath of God, not for his sake, but in order that "we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us." (Hebrews 6:18)
Now we may read the text in the book of Joshua, which seems to you, as to so many others, to contradict what we have just been learning. It reads thus: "And the Lord gave unto Israel all the land which He swore to give unto their fathers; and they possessed it, and dwelt therein. And the Lord gave them rest round about, according to all that He swore unto their fathers: and there stood not a man of all their enemies before them; the Lord delivered all their enemies into their hand. There failed not ought of any good thing which the Lord had spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass." (Joshua 21:43-45)
Only Believe
If we believe every word that we read in the Bible we shall have no difficulty, but the things which seem to be contradictions will be the sources of our richest comfort and blessing. We know that all the promises to Abraham are open to us, and we also know that hundreds of years ago God gave to His people every good thing that He had promised, without a single exception. What then must be the conclusion? Simply this, that all "the power of the world to come" (Ephesians 1:21) is ours now to use, if we will, in our condition in "this present evil world." (Galatians 1:4)
Can you not see glorious comfort in the supposed contradiction? Read a little further in the book of Joshua. "Along time after that the Lord had given Israel rest from all their enemies round about, ... Joshua called for all Israel, and their elders, and for their heads, and for their judges, and for their officers," (Joshua 23:1-2) and rehearsed before them God's wondrous dealings, reminding them of all the good that He had done to them, and then said: "Behold, I have divided unto you by lot these nations that remain, to be an inheritance for your tribes, from Jordan, with all the nations that I have cut off, even unto the great sea westward. And the Lord your God, He shall expel them from before you, and drive them from out of your sight; and you shall possess their land as the Lord your God has promised unto you. Be therefore very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, that you turn not aside therefrom to the right hand or to the left; That you come not among these nations, these that remain among you; ... But cleave unto the Lord, your God, as you have done unto this day. ... Else if you do in anywise go back, and cleave unto the remnant of these nations, even these that remain among you. ... Know for a certainty that the Lord your God will no more drive out any of these nations from before you; but they shall be snares, and traps unto you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off this good land which the Lord your God has given you. And, behold, this day, I am going the way of all the earth; and you know in all your hearts and in all your souls, that not one thing has failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spoke concerning you; all are come to pass unto you, and not one thing has failed thereof." (Joshua 23:4-8,12-14)
Faith Appropriates
From this we see that although God had given the people everything that He had promised, all depended upon whether or not they appropriated them. Not a man had been able to stand before them, and the Lord had given them the land, and rest from all their enemies, yet there was much of the land still occupied by their enemies, whom they were to dispossess. And their future depended on their faith and obedience; and we know that, not believing and not obeying, they did not make the victory their own, and were themselves eventually carried away from the land.
We are in just the same position that they were. "[God] has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ." (Ephesians 1:3)
Someone says, "Why then do we not experience all these blessings?"
The answer is, "Because you do not lay hold of them and appropriate them."
Christ has given us His own peace, and that means His victory over the world; but unless our faith makes it a reality to us, it is the same as though it were not done. "This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith." (1 John 5:4,RV)
The world, the flesh, and the devil, all have been overcome, yet we have them all to fight with; we may keep the faith, and have continual victory and peace, or we may be in constant turmoil and at last lose everything. All depends on us.
A Finished Work
God's work is a finished work, finished from the foundation of the world. He himself asks, "What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it?" (Isaiah 5:4)
When Christ hung on the cross, which abolishes sin and death and all the curse, and restores the new creation, He cried, "It is finished." (John 19:30)
God has done everything,--has wrought all good works for us,--and we have only to enter into the rest that He has given us. Are you not glad? "We which have believed do enter into rest." (Hebrews 4:3)
Let us do this, instead of standing outside, trembling, hesitating, doubting, wondering why God's Word does not harmonize with our unbelief.--Present Truth, September 19, 1901.