Home At Last

Finally, the children of Israel were home in Canaan! For so many years they had wandered and wandered, walked and walked, in the deserts and through the valleys. Many, many years ago their fathers had left the land of Egypt where they had been under a wicked king. Moses had led them; then Joshua had led them, and not until now were they finally reaching the home for which they had been longing. Oh, just remember all those years! What awful things they had to go through because of their grumbling and forgetting about God—the serpents which had bitten them until Moses raised up the brass serpent on the pole—the punishment they received when they bowed to the golden calf while Moses was receiving the Ten Commandments from God—the quails they greedily ate and the plague of the Lord that followed—and all the other punishments because they would not listen to God and Moses, His appointed leader.

Then there were all the wonderful times God had helped them—oh, much more than they had deserved! He had protected them from so many enemies. He had fed them and led them even though they had acted so terribly towards Him. What a good God He had been to them.

Now they were home in Canaan, in their own country, in the land to which they had been traveling for forty years. Many of their enemies had been destroyed, and now they had all this land on which to live. How happy they were to be here. First, Joshua helped the people divide up the land so that each tribe had its own area. Remember, there were several tribes, or families. Each one was given a big piece of land on which to make his home except the family of Levi; they were given cities mixed in among all the other families. In that way they could teach the people as a minister would.

Also, six cities had a special name; they were called cities of refuge. Maybe you could think of them as safety cities. These six cities were places where you would be safe if you accidentally killed another person. No one could chase after you to kill you once you were safely in one of these cities. These cities were not safe for just anyone who had done something terribly wrong. They were safe only for those who had killed a person by mistake or in an accident. Here is an example: If you were very angry at your brother and went to his house at night and killed him, that would be very much a sin. That would be murder. You could not run to a city of refuge for that sin. You would have to be punished; you would be put to death. However, perhaps you were cutting down a tree in the forest with an axe. Your brother was next to you, helping you, when suddenly an awful thing happened. The head of your axe came off the handle and struck your brother so that he died. You killed him, but you did not mean to do so. You killed him by mistake. You could then run to the city of refuge for safety. You would be safe there because in your heart you really did not intend to kill your brother.

Do not those six cities of refuge remind us of another place of refuge? God commanded Moses to set up these six cities which pointed to the Lord Jesus Christ who is the place of refuge to which guilty sinners may flee. Each person in the world is such a guilty sinner, but only those who feel their guilt and the need of refuge will flee unto Him. May the Lord Himself teach us this by His Holy Spirit.

The children of Israel had reached their home at last, and now Joshua was also going to go home. Go home? Could he not live in Canaan with the Israelites? Yes, certainly, for a little while, but then he must go to his eternal home, to heaven, to be with God forever.

Joshua had been on a long journey, too. His was not only forty years long—his journey was one hundred ten years long! That was how long his life had been. None of us know how long our journey will be. Will it be only ten years, only thirty years, or ninety years? Joshua’s journey to his home in heaven was just like the Israelites’ journey to Canaan. How much the journey to Canaan reminds us of each Christian’s journey to heaven!

Joshua knew that his time was coming to leave the earth. He had done the job God had given him to do, but before he left, he wanted to talk to the people God had given him to lead. Joshua called all the people together and reminded them of all the things God had done for them. He reminded them of all the help God had given them and of all the times He had been with them even when they were so wicked. Then Joshua said something important.

“Today,” he said, “you must make a choice. Today you must choose whom you are going to serve from now on. Are you going to bow down to the gods of the Canaanites and to the gods which your fathers served many years ago, or are you going to serve the true and living God who has helped you all these years?”

“Today,” Joshua said, “you must choose whom you will serve. I have already made that choice, and I and my family are going to serve the Lord.”

The people were amazed. “Of course, we will not forsake the true God” they cried. “It is He who has helped us so much. We promise that we will serve Him, too.”

Then Joshua told them, “You really cannot serve the Lord rightly, for He is a holy and jealous God. If you turn from Him and serve other gods, God will punish you.”

“Oh, no,” cried the people. “We will never leave Him. We will serve Him and obey Him.”

Do you think that happened? No, it did not. It was not long after Joshua died that the people found idol gods of other countries and began to worship them, and they had to be punished for it.

Did you ever realize that Joshua’s words from the Bible are talking to us today? Yes, he is telling us today, right now, “Today I want you to make a choice. Choose you this day whom you will serve.” Do you know what he means? We also must choose between serving God and giving our lives to the world. Of course, we must have God’s help to make such a promise because otherwise we will backslide and serve the world just as the Israelites did.

Are you listening to Joshua? Pray for God’s help to make the right choice. Pray that He may turn your heart from the world to Himself. “To day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your heart.”

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