The Lords Land

The Lords Land.

It may be said of all the land in the world, he that is your Father is the great land-lord of the world; however men respect their land-lords and are afraid to displease them, but how little respect is given to this great land-lord of the world! The earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof; well, but though all the world be the Lords land, yet this land was the Lords land in a peculiar manner, the land of Canaan it was the Lords land more peculiarly in many respects:

First, it was a land that God had espied out for his people, in (Ezekiel 20:6), as a special place. God was overlooking all the world; where should I have a good land (or country) to set my people, and the text says, God had espied it out.

Secondly, it was the land of promise, therefore the Lords land, in (Hebrews 11:9): by faith he sojourned in the land of promise as in a strange country. No land in Scripture is called the land of promise but only this.

Thirdly, the Lords land, it was a land given by oath in (Genesis 24:7).

Fourthly, it was a land which the Lord brought his people into by a strong hand and outstretched arm: many Scriptures you have for that, as (Ezekiel 20:6), &c.

Fifthly, it was a land divided by lot, and so the Lords land; not only all the land, but every piece in it, and the possession that any man had it was ordered by God himself, by lot.

Sixthly, it was a land wherein God dwelt himself, a land that God called his own rest, Here will I rest for ever (Psalm 132), and God swore to them that hardened their hearts in the wilderness, that they should not enter into his rest, that is, that they should not enter into the land of Canaan. It was the land wherein there was the ordinances of God, and the worship of God, and his honor dwelt there, and so it had a peculiar blessing upon it above all the land that was upon the face of the earth.

Seventhly, it was a land over which God's eye was in a more special manner; there's a most excellent Scripture for that in (Deuteronomy 11:12): a land which the Lord your God cares for, the eyes of the Lord your God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even to the end thereof.

Yes, further, this land, it was a typical land of the Church, and a typical land of heaven, for so the Apostle speaking of that place in the Psalms, that he swore in his wrath, that they should not enter in his rest. The Apostle in (Hebrews 3:7) seems to apply it to the rest of the Church of heaven, and in (1 Chronicles 16:15): Be you mindful always of his covenant, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations, even of the covenant which he made with Abraham, and of his oath to Isaac, and has confirmed the same to Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant; saying, To you will I give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance. Mark; that he would give to them the land of Canaan: this must be remembered to a thousand generations, and it must be a law to Israel afterwards. Certainly this notes that God aimed at more by the land of Canaan than merely to possess them of so much ground.

Further, yet there are divers titles that are given to this land; it is called a holy land in (Zechariah 2:12), and it is called a good land in (Numbers 14:7), that which is translated in your books exceeding good, is, very very good: it's a pleasant land in (Ezekiel 7, final verse), a garden of Eden in (Joel 2:3), a glorious land in (Daniel 11:16 & 41 verses), and the glory of all lands (Ezekiel 20:15), and a goodly heritage (Jeremiah 3:19). Now (says my text) they shall not abide in the Lords land. Now from all these titles we are not only to take notice of this: that it should be a great judgment of God to drive them out of such a good land.

And observe, it is a great judgment of God, for God through the sins of a people, to drive them out of a good land. Truly sometimes, I suppose when you travel abroad where there are fair prospects, you cannot but have such a meditation, Oh! how vile are the sins of this land, that should provoke God to cast us out of such a good land as this is? And most of the titles, though not all, they may be given to our land that was given to the land of Canaan; and certainly if God should proceed in his wrath to cast us out, it would be a heavy judgment to consider of, they laid the pleasant land desolate. However wicked men may cry out of God's servants that they are the cause of the trouble of the land, yet certainly it is the wicked and ungodly that are false in the worship of God, they are wicked men that lay the land desolate. Also we might here observe that, to be cast out of those mercies that God by an extraordinary providence has brought to us, is a sore and a grievous evil.

But now the main end that I name all these epithets, it is this: to show to you, the excellency of the state of the Church of God. The rest of Canaan was a type of the rest that God has in his Church, and all those that are members of the true Church of God they have a share in it, to rejoice in; to enjoy God in his ordinances, it is to enjoy that which is typified by all this.

You who are a believer, have a good land, the garden of Eden, a glorious land, and that land which is the glory of all lands, there are abundance of excellent privileges that do belong to the Church of God; and as it is a judgment to be cast out of such a land as this was, so it sets out the great judgment to be cast out from the Church of God, or for God to deny to give to us the blessing of his Church; you know what a great affliction it was to Moses to think that he should not come into that good land, Oh! how did he pray to God that he might come into Canaan? Certainly it is that which we should pray for, that we might live to come into Canaan that God is a bringing his people into: now let us not murmur as they did in the wilderness, and their carcasses did fall in it, but let us go on and be as Caleb and Joshua, of another spirit, and not fear our adversaries, but go on in God's way, and the Lord will bring us into the good land; it's true, we have deserved to be cut off in the wilderness, but certainly God has a Canaan for his people, a Canaan yet to come for his people, the Lord has great things to do for his Church, and there are many expressions upon which some think that God even will make use of this Canaan yet for to be the place of his chief majesty and glory that shall appear in this world; but however that be, yet the Lord has a Canaan for his people that we may confide in. It follows.