When God placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, he warned them that if they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil then they would surely die and the truth of that statement is only too obvious as we follow through the record of Adam’s line and indeed every family line on earth.
So in spite of the Covenants God made with Noah, Abraham and Moses they all died not having seen the promises fulfilled.
However because of all that Moses did and this incredible word from God about him
With him `I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the LORD’ Numbers 12.8
we might be tempted to ask ‘was he the one?’. But no! Moses still died and never set foot in the Promised Land because the canker of sin was still in him, and
JOSHUA
Moses righthand man for many years, was commissioned to lead the people across the Jordan into Canaan.
The name Joshua, carries the idea of deliverer or Saviour and therefore raises our expectations of what will happen now that a great people are about to move into their promised land. This name is surely no coincidence.
They do so with the Mosaic Covenant given at Sinai, given by God, to them through Moses, which called on them, as we noted yesterday, to be different from all the nations around them.
This situation would have caused some to ask ‘Is this it? Is this what God promised so long ago?’ and at the end of Joshua’s life, for he too died as everyone else, when they were challenged by Joshua to keep the terms of the Covenant, they responded in these words:
“We will serve the LORD our God and obey him.” Joshua 24.24
Joshua was a wise man and in his heart of hearts he knew that the people would fail. He had said to them when he challenged them
“You are not able to serve the LORD. He is a holy God; he is a jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins. If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, he will return and bring disaster on you and make an end of you, after he has been good to you.” Joshua 24.19-20
This warning failed to change the people in spite of all the blessings they had received as they moved into the land promised to them. The sin canker still revealed itself time and time again, but God’s Covenants still stood. The promise of Genesis 3.15 could not be broken. The Advent of Jesus, would yet be many years ahead but it would be!,