Page 47 - Gods Plan of the Ages

people into their spiritual inheritance in God.
Joshua's first act as leader of God's people was to prepare them to cross over into their
inheritance. This action parallels the work of Christ Who has come to prepare men to enter
into their inheritance in the kingdom of God. In order for men and women to be readied to
receive a spiritual inheritance they must be consecrated unto God. They must be separated
from the world and its defilements. They must be set apart as holy unto Yahweh. This work
of consecration by the Savior of mankind is foreshadowed through Joshua as he prepared
the people of God to enter into their inheritance in the land of Canaan.

Joshua 3:5
Then Joshua said to the people, "Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow Yahweh will do
wonders among you."

I trust you are familiar, at least in a general sense, with the story of the crossing of the
Jordan. Israel approached the Jordan, and it was at flood stage, an annual occurrence. The
Jordan stood as a great obstacle in their way. It had to be crossed in order to arrive at the
land flowing with milk and honey that God had promised to them. Similarly, God has set
an inheritance before the disciples of Christ.

Ephesians 1:18
I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the
hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints...

Colossians 3:23-24
Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that
from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance.

The natural inheritance of Israel was awesome. The land they were to inherit was
exceedingly fruitful. A single cluster of grapes had to be borne on the shoulders of two men.
The land was full of orchards and cultivated fields. There were houses to be possessed that
the Israelites would not have to construct themselves. There was fantastic wealth to found
among the treasures of the people they would drive out.

Deuteronomy 6:10-12
"Then it shall come about when Yahweh your God brings you into the land which He
swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you, great and splendid cities
which you did not build, and houses full of all good things which you did not fill, and
hewn cisterns which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant,
and you eat and are satisfied, then watch yourself, that you do not forget Yahweh who
brought you from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery."

These things serve as parallels to that inheritance Christ has prepared for the saints.
It too is extraordinary. We are to possess dwelling places we did not build ourselves. These
dwelling places will be the glorified bodies of the saints that Christ has gone to prepare for
us.

II Corinthians 5:1-4
For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building
from God, a house not made with hands, age-abiding in the heavens. For indeed in this