“For the land whither thou goest in to possess it,
is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came
out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it
with thy foot, as a garden of herbs; but the land
whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills
and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of
heaven; a land which the Lord thy God careth for;
the eyes of the Lord thy God are always upon it,
from the beginning of the year, even unto the end
of the year.”-Deuteronomy 11:10-12.
It has generally been considered, that the passage of
the Jordan by the Israelites is typical of death, and
that Canaan is a fitting representation of heaven. We
believe that in some sense it is true, and we do fondly
cherish the household words of those hymns which
describe our passing through Jordan’s billows, and
landing safe on Canaan’s side; but we do think that the
allegory does not hold, and that Jordan is not a fair
exhibition of death, nor the land of Canaan a fair
picture of the sweet land beyond the swelling flood
which the Christian gains after death. For mark you,
after the children of Israel had entered into Canaan,
they had to fight with their enemies. It was a land
filled with foes. Every city they entered they had to
take by storm, unless a miracle dismantled it. They
were warriors, even in the land of Canaan, fighting for
their own inheritance; and though each tribe had its
lot marked out, yet they had to conquer the giant
Anakim, and encounter terrible hosts of Canaanites. But
when we cross the river of death we shall have no foes
to fight, no enemies to encounter. Heaven is a place
already prepared for us; out of it the evil ones have
long ago been driven; there brethren shall await us
with pleasing faces, kind hands shall clasp ours, and
loving words shall alone be heard. The shout of war
shall ne’er be raised by us in heaven; we shall throw
our swords away, and the scabbards with them. No
battles with warriors there, no plains besoaked with
blood, no hills where robbers dwell, no inhabitants
with chariots of iron. It is “a land flowing with milk
and honey;” and it dreams not of the foeman of Canaan
of old. We think the church has lost the beauty of
Scripture, in taking Jordan to mean death, and that a
far fuller meaning is the true allegory to be connected
with it. Egypt, as we have lately observed to you, was
typical of the condition of the children of God while
they are in bondage to the law of sin. There they are
made to work unceasingly, without wages or profit, but
continually subject to pains. We said, again, that the
coming up out of Egypt was the type of the deliverance
which every one of God’s people enjoys, when by faith
he strikes the blood of Jesus on his lintel and his
doorpost, and spiritually eats the paschal lamb; and we
can also tell you now, that the passage through the
wilderness is typical of that state of hoping, and
fearing, and doubting, and wavering, and inconstancy,
and distrust, which we usually experience between the
period when we come out of Egypt, and attain unto the
full assurance of faith.
Many of you, my dear hearers, are really come out of
Egypt; but you are still wandering about in the
wilderness. “We that have believed do enter into rest;”
but you, though you have eaten of Jesus, have not so
believed on him as to have entered into the Canaan of
rest. You are the Lord’s people, but you have not come
into the Canaan of assured faith, confidence, and hope,
where we wrestle no longer with flesh and blood, but
with principalities and powers in the heavenly places
in Christ Jesus-when it is no longer a matter of doubt
with us whether we shall be saved, but we feel that we
are saved. I have known believers who have existed for
years almost without a doubt as to their acceptance.
They have enjoyed a sweet and blessed reliance on
Christ; they have come into Canaan; they have fed on
the good old corn of the land; they now “lie passive in
his hand, and know no will but his.” They have such a
sweet oneness with their blessed Lord Jesus, that they
lay their head on his breast all day long, and they
have scarcely any nights; they almost always live in
days; for though they have not attained unto his
perfect image, they feel themselves so manifestly in
union with himself that they cannot and dare not doubt.
They have entered into rest; they are come into Canaan.
Such is the condition of the child of God, when he has
come to an advanced stage in his experience, when God
has so given him grace upon grace that he can say, “Yes
though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death
I will fear no evil, for thou art with me: thy rod and
thy staff they comfort me.”
We will read this passage again; and bear in mind what
I understand it to mean. It sets before the Christian’s
state, after he has attained to this faith and
confidence in God; when he is no longer careful about
the things of this life, when he does not water the
ground with his foot, but has come to a land that
drinketh in the rain of heaven. “The land whither thou
goest in to possess it,”-the land of high and holy
Christian privilege-”is not as the land of Egypt, from
whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and
wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs; but
the land, whither ye go to possess it, is a land of
hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of
heaven; a land which the Lord thy God careth for: the
eyes of the Lord thy God are always upon it, from the
beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.”
We shall have this morning to note, first of all, the
difference between the Christian’s temporal condition
and that of the Egyptian worldling; and secondly, the
special privilege vouchsafed to those who have entered
into Canaan-that the eyes of the Lord their God are
always upon their land, “from the beginning of the
year, even unto the end of the year.”
“This article originally appeared here at Bible Bulletin Board.”
