A LAND FLOWING WITH MILK AND HONEY

Jehovah commanded Moses, “Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—appeared to me and said: I have watched over you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt. And I have promised to bring you up out of your misery in Egypt into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—a land flowing with milk and honey.’ Ex. 17: 16-17

The Lord promised the Israelites “a land flowing with milk and honey."  

Did God keep His promise?

The Lord said to Moses, “Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites.  So they went up and explored the land from the Desert of Zin as far as Rehob, toward Lebo Hamath. They went up through the Negev and came to Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, lived. (Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) When they reached the Valley of Eshkol, they cut off a branch bearing a single cluster of grapes. Two of them carried it on a pole between them, along with some pomegranates and figs. That place was called the Valley of Eshkol because of the cluster of grapes the Israelites cut off there. At the end of forty days they returned from exploring the land.” Num. 13

"The people of Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand on the seashore; they ate, they drank and they were happy. And Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates River to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt. These countries brought tribute and were Solomon’s subjects all his life. During Solomon’s lifetime Judah and Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, lived in safety, everyone under their own vine and under their own fig tree." 1 Kings 4:20-25

Jeremiah the Prophet’s history records the fulfillment of the promise. “You brought Your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and with wonders, and with a strong hand and with an outstretched arm and with great terror; and gave them this land, which You swore to their forefathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey.” Jer. 32: 22

God kept His promise.

But the promise was about more than just earthly safety, milk, honey, figs and grapes.

“By faith Abel..; by faith Enoch..; by faith Noah..; by faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise; for he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.  

All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. Heb. 11

 That’s our city, too!

“But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly,  to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect,..” Heb. 12; 22-23

Blessed are they that do his commandments so that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city; for without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loves and makes a lie. Rev 22:14-15

And there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defiles, neither whatsoever works abomination, or makes a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life. Rev. 21:27

The heavenly Jerusalem will indeed be the city of NEW PEACE. The politics of greed and envy will be non-existent. Every soul shall be satisfied. There will be no crime to go unpunished. No corrupt politician to be impeached. No false prophets and heresies to fight. No more anxiety over, “Who can I trust?” No more wealth distribution through taxation. No one beat to death on the side walk will others video the slaughter. No more fear of someone kidnapping your child from your front lawn; or being raped or mugged in the grocery store parking lot. No more carjacking; or fear of terrorist bomb threats. No more sexual perversion. We will all finally fully love our neighbors as we love ourselves; and there will be universal peace in the New Earth.

“Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before Him despising the shame endured the cross, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.  Heb: 12:3

“For the joy that was set before Him?”

 We’ll think about that next time.