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Possessing Canaan
by Adam Bennett Genesis 23:19 After this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah east of Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan. God promised Abraham, "I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God." (Genesis 17:8). Abraham bought a cave to bury his wife, and this was a precursor to the fulfillment of God bringing his people into the promised land. Though the promise was yet to be fulfilled many generations later, Abraham possessed a small deposit of that inheritance. Like us, Abraham lived with some sense of possessing the promised land - yet knowing that fully possessing it was for the future. On this theme 2 Corinthians 5:4-5 says, "while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdenednot that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee." Similarly, we are told in Ephesians 1:13-14 that, "you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it." Like Abraham we have a sense of the glory of heaven held with the certainty that the fuller glory is to come. But unlike Abraham, who only possessed a tomb in the promised land, we have the Spirit. As a down-payment for when we will dwell with God, God now dwells with us. "If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you." Romans 8:11 Copyright Adam Bennett 2009. More articles are available at http://godward-thoughts.blogspot.com/ Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |