Out of the 2 million estimated people who came out of Egypt with Moses, only two adults namely: Joshua and Caleb, actually inherited the promised land. Faithfulness brought them there.
Joshua and Caleb became the new leaders of the second generation Israelites who successfully possessed their inheritance.
The Lord declared to Moses that none will inherit the good land “except Kalev (Caleb) the son of Y’funeh - he will see it; I will give him and his descendants the land he walked on, because he has fully followed Adonai… Y’hoshua the son of Nun, your assistant - he will go in there. So encourage him, because he will enable Isra’el to take possession of it.” (Deuteronomy 1:36, 38, CJB)
Called and Chosen and Faithful = Overcomer
Revelation 17:14 declares, “They (referring to the beast and its kings in the book of Revelation) will go to war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will defeat them, because he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those who are called, chosen and faithful will overcome along with him.” (CJB)
The New Living Translation renders, “…And his called and chosen and faithful ones will be with him.” This gives us a sense that those who are not just the called, not even the called and chosen, but the “called and chosen and faithful” are the ones who overcome.
To overcome like our Lord, we need to progress from being called and being chosen to being faithful in Christ. Many miss the mark of God’s best because they fail to stay true to Christ in relation to their manners, speech and character. Our mark is Christlikeness. Let us keep growing until we become like Jesus in every way.
An echo of Revelation 17:14 is possibly 1 Peter 2:4-10, verse 9 states:
“But you are a chosen people, the King’s [priests], a holy nation, a people for God to possess! Why? In order for you to declare the praises of the One who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; before you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” (CJB)
We have been CALLED OUT of darkness and we are a CHOSEN PEOPLE in order to DECLARE HIS PRAISES (the faithful witness of our lives declare His praises).
Again in 1 Peter 2:4-7, we see this theme: “As you COME TO HIM (that is, CALLED), the living stone [Christ] rejected by people but chosen by God and precious to Him, you yourselves, as living stones , are being built up into a spiritual house to be [priests] SET APART for God (or CHOSEN for God)…. Now to you who KEEP TRUSTING (or to the FAITHFUL ones), he [Christ] is precious.” (CJB)
Our Christian life begins when we are born again - when we turn away from sinning, make Jesus Christ as ruler of all, and start walking in holiness. Then, God expects us to grow (called), to be fruitful (chosen) and to qualify for our inheritance (faithful).
Unfaithfulness hinders you from attaining your promised land:
God declared: "Of all those I rescued from Egypt, no one who is twenty years old or older will ever see the land I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, for they have not obeyed me wholeheartedly. The only exceptions are Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua son of Nun, for they have wholeheartedly followed the LORD. (Numbers 32:11-12, NLT)
Those who overcome are the called and chosen and faithful:
1. Called
All the multitude of Israelites responded to the call of God including Joshua and Caleb to cross the Red Sea in order to offer sacrifices to God in the desert. (Exodus 3:18) This was their call.
But the desert was never intended to be their burial ground!
The desert was supposed to be their training ground: to develop humility, obedience and dependence on God Almighty. (Deuteronomy 8:2)
In the same way Israel’s calling out of Egypt to worship God in the desert is not their final destination, our born again experience is not our journey's end. It is just the entrance toward God’s fullness of blessings. A growing phase if you will.
Once called out of darkness, we are to forever turn away from it and keep on walking in His glorious light.
If you previously enjoyed cheating, you no longer go back to cheating, or use dishonest means to have your way, or lie, manipulate, participate in wild parties, harbor unforgiveness, indulge in lust, greed and selfish pleasures, nurture bitterness, pride and selfish ambition, or use crass/insensitive speech, or live in an ungodly manner.
God emphatically warns against going back to worldly ways: “But he [the king] shall not multiply horses for himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, for the Lord has said to you, ‘You shall not return that way again.’” Egypt is a type of the world and God never wants us to revert to ungodly influences.
Solomon violated this instruction. “[He] built up a huge force of chariots and horses. He had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horses…..Solomon’s horses were imported from Egypt…” (2 Chronicles 1:14,16)
Consequently, along with the importation of horses were the employment of Egyptian horse trainers, developing ties with Egyptian business people, politicians and Pharaoh himself. Political ties included inter-marriages. In fact, Solomon “fell in love” and married the daughter of Pharaoh and other ungodly princesses. Later on, these same foreign wives turned his heart away from the Lord (1 Kings 11:4). He failed the faithfulness test.
The book of Ecclesiastes was his sad confession that without God, “Everything is meaningless!” Even with all the prestige that riches, power and knowledge gives, Solomon’s experimentations “under the sun” (or living like God is not actively involved in one’s daily life) were all empty.
The called phase is our growing phase. This is where we grow in trusting Christ, knowing Him personally, and fellowship with other believers. This is one of the most important phases in our Christian life, but we need to move up higher.
2. Chosen
Among the many who were called, Joshua and Caleb were chosen as members of the 12 leaders who spied out the land. They rose from the ranks of ordinary Israelites to serve God’s people in a special capacity.
According to 1 Peter 2:9, the chosen are the people consecrated by the Lord to be His priests, His treasured possession, and HIs dwelling place. Yes, God wants to dwell in you!
Many are called, but few are chosen. They were chosen not because God randomly picked them. They were chosen because they separated themselves from the world to be “useful to the Master.” They grew from being baby Christians to being responsible. They grew from a “serve me” attitude to “I’m happy to serve!” attitude.
The chosen ones are set apart to be the King’s priests. When we grow in the Lord, we become useful servants of God. God uses your career or unique place in the world to influence others toward righteousness.
2 Timothy 2:21 says, “Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from [ungodly living], he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified (meaning set apart or chosen) and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work.”
God will never entrust His work to babies. We must grow in the Lord to be useful for Him. For example, God cannot use you to have a ministry of giving when you remain selfish. This could be the reason why your business venture is not picking up yet. Thus, you are very much still on the receiving end and not on the giving end. You may be happy receiving God’s blessings but miss the greater joy of giving. (Acts 20:35)
Another example is one who keeps on falling in sin but never gets down on his knees to ask for God’s mercy to stamp it out. He may enjoy God’s forgiveness but he never partakes of the beauty of living a holy life. They remain babies in the faith and fail to be rooted in the faith. They are too lazy to exercise holiness, integrity, love, kindness and all other godly qualities. God's grace is available to us, but we need to appropriate them by faith to produce righteousness in us.
The chosen phase is our fruitfulness phase. God gives us the privilege to take part in what He is doing. He sends us to share the gospel, disciple others, influence our colleagues to righteousness, lay hands on the sick, cast out devils, perform signs and wonders, grow businesses to fund His works, help the poor and needy and all other fruitful works in the Kingdom.
The chosen phase is the most dynamic, action packed phase. We are no longer babies needing help, we grow to become servants of the Lord. We move from "Bless me!" to "I'm here to be a blessing!"
But this is not the end goal. We need to move on to maturity.
3. Faithful
Among the twelve who spied out the land, only Joshua and Caleb remained faithful (true or full of faith) to the Lord. Their faithfulness qualified them to possess the promised land.
If the called are the baby Christians and the chosen are the servants of the Lord, the faithful are the mature sons of God: they have grown in the image of Christ.
They become joint-heirs with Christ: “The Spirit himself bears witness with our own spirits that we are children of God; and if we are children, then we are also heirs, heirs of God and joint-heirs with the Messiah - provided we are suffering with him in order also to be glorified with him.” (Romans 8:16, CJB)
So those who are faithful are the ones who paid the price to be godly. They progress from being a servant to becoming a friend of God. They took time to be grow in holiness. They grow in intimacy with God and carry God’s presence with them.
These are the ones who suffer with Christ, pass their tests and persevere in attaining Christlikeness.
Faithfulness calls for joy in the midst of fiery trials. “Regard it as joy, my brothers, when you face various kinds of temptations; for you know that the testing of your trust produces perseverance. But let perseverance to its complete work; so the you may be complete and whole (or become like Christ in every way), lacking nothing.” (James 1:2-4, CJB)
Faithfulness calls for patience and endurance, while keeping your joy in the midst of fiery trials. “Strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.” (Colossians 1:11-12, NKJV) Faithfulness qualifies us to inherit all of God’s best.
Let us be clear though that the faithfulness we are talking about is first and foremost faithfulness to the Lord Jesus Christ, not loyalty to a religion, program, affiliation, vocation, career or one's own pursuits (though they may have value on their own).
Let us be clear though that the faithfulness we are talking about is first and foremost faithfulness to the Lord Jesus Christ, not loyalty to a religion, program, affiliation, vocation, career or one's own pursuits (though they may have value on their own).
The faithfulness phase is our maturity phase. After going through tests, God causes us to reflect his glory, enjoy intimate fellowship with the Holy Spirit, exercise greater spiritual authority, walk in Christlikeness and become a precious friend of God. Here, our fruits are lasting, our impact eternal and our faith unshakable. I pray that all of us would attain to this by His grace, amen:)
Joshua and Caleb were tested in many ways, and yet they remained faithful to the Lord. The unfaithful, it seems, always run into trouble, while the faithful remain calm and confident. (Isaiah 30:15)
One way to check ourselves is to take a moment of reflection and ask: Am I always ending up into trouble? Am I causing a lot of trouble lately? If this is so, you may be in a wilderness experience - a season of tests.
If you have been circling around (that is, if your troubles come back time and again), you may not be passing your tests. God challenges you to grow in Christ’s character, to depend on His power to act and not to take matters into your own hands.
Let us keep ourselves in the love of God and may we enjoy all the best that God has for us, amen:)
**Disclaimer: The writer may not necessarily agree with the contents of the websites where photos were taken.**
(Re-writing Deuteronomy 007)
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