In our Bible reading for today, we come to Joshua 13-14 where God promises an elderly Joshua that he WILL complete what he started. This is a theme we see again in the New Testament:
And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. Philippians 1:6
When Joshua had become old and more or less enfeebled, the Lord appeared unto His servant, and after informing him that there remained yet very much land to be possessed, and naming some of the places and peoples to be conquered, He declared, “them will I drive out from before the children of Israel: only divide thou it by lot unto the Israelites for an inheritance, as I have commanded thee” (Josh. 13:6). It had been so with Moses: under God he had begun the task of occupying Canaan (namely that part thereof which lay to the east of Jordan), but only a small beginning had been made. Joshua had been used to carry forward the enterprise considerably, yet it was far from being completed—others would be raised up later to effect the Divine purpose. And it has been the same ever since. A start was all that was made by the apostles in the evangelizing of the Gentiles, for when the last of them expired there remained yet very much land to be possessed. Calvin and Luther were mightily employed in delivering God’s people from the deadly shackles of Rome, yet when the last of the Reformers was called home how much yet remained to be accomplished!
It is the same now. At the close of the most active and self-sacrificing life in the service of Christ, each succeeding minister of His leaves this scene with very much of the world still occupied by the enemy. But observe now the blessed consolation the Lord gave unto Joshua: “them will I drive out,” not “from before thee,” for he would not live to see it accomplished, but “from before the children of Israel.” As he had carried forward the work begun by Moses, so others would be Divinely appointed and equipped to advance his efforts—the honor of laying the capstone thereon being reserved for David centuries later. A similar assurance should be the very real confidence of every aged minister of the Gospel. There is no statement in Scripture, so far as the writer can perceive, to show that a time will ever come when all upon earth will be saved, or even nominally receive the Truth: yet the Divine promise is given,
- “One generation shall praise Thy works to another” (Ps. 145:4);
- yea, that some “shall fear Thee as long as the sun and moon endure, throughout all generations” (Ps. 72:5).
- The words of Christ in Matthew 28:20, make it clear that He will have some of His on earth till the last,
- and His “all that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me” (John 6:37) proves that neither man nor devil will prevent the salvation of the entire election of grace.
- “The foundation of God standeth sure . . . The Lord knoweth them that are His” (2 Tim. 2:19) provides a grand haven of rest for every anxious heart.
Knowing God through His Word ... Day by Day 