The Goodly Land I See

​Christmas Eve 2024                                                TLH # 105:1-3, 6-8; LSB #’s 798:2-3, 6-7; 387
Text – Hebrews 4:9 & 11
 
So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.  Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.
 
THE GOODLY LAND I SEE
 
 
The holidays are rapidly narrowing down.   That should bring some rest from all the busyness of this season.  As these days & this year narrow down, I pray that your faith & hope in Jesus’ advents are not narrowing but expanding.  
For those who follow Jesus, rest is coming – not the worn-out, exhausted rest where we flop down in the recliner after the holidays.   The eternal rest of heaven will be pure bliss, perfect contentment & communion with God.   Revelation 21 is a vision of what is coming to us:
“The dwelling place of God is with man.  He will dwell with them, & they will be His people, & God himself will be with them as their God.   He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, & death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”  (Revelation 21:3-4 ESV)  
Is there anything more important to you than entering the eternal Promised Land?    To get into that, let’s consider the mind-boggling greatness of Jesus Christ.     When you think of Jesus, don’t just see the baby in the manger.  St. Paul wrote:
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.  For by Him all things were created, in heaven & on earth, visible & invisible,   whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities – all things were created through Him & for Him.    And He is before all things, & in Him all things hold together.   And He is the head of the body, the church.  He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything He might be preeminent. For in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.  (Colossians 1:15-19 ESV)  
 
Do we have any chance of comprehending the greatness of Jesus?   How naïve are we to think Advent is only about Jesus being born long ago in Bethlehem!   “All things were created through Him & for Him.   And He is before all things, & in Him all things hold together.”  Jesus Christ jealously wants you to be His, now & forever.  That’s why He keeps coming to you, keeps making advents.  He keeps coming to you week after week in worship, as His Spirit serves you word & sacrament.  He keeps coming to you during the week when you have your devotions.  
He keeps coming to you when passages you’ve memorized & biblical principles of faith guide you in life.  “The image of the invisible God” is coming, coming, coming ... to you!   And all His comings are pointed toward a goal.   All the advents of Jesus are leading to His decisive advent on the Last Day.  
We confess in the creed, “He ascended into heaven…  From thence He will come to judge the living & the dead.”  When Jesus appears in glory, you & I want to be on the right side of history!   The OT reading was from Joshua, because the children of Israel were ready to enter the Promised Land.   What does that have to do with us, here on Christmas Eve? 
That ancient history foreshadows our own entrance into the ultimate Promised Land – that eternal rest of bliss & perfect communion with God.   Not every Israelite entered the ancient Promised Land; not everyone born into Christian families will enter heaven.  
The congregation of Israel did not trust God’s word.  When they came to the Promised Land, they didn’t trust God’s promise to conquer the giants who lived there.  At the border of the land of milk & honey, they refused to believe that God was faithful to the promises He made to Abraham, Isaac & Jacob.  In hindsight, we can see how short-sighted they were.  
For such disobedience, God condemned them to wander in the wilderness for forty years.  With the 1st chapter of Joshua, we have fast forwarded & the years of wandering are over.   The generation that refused to believe has completely died; so has Moses.  Joshua is going to lead them into the Promised Land:
The Lord said to Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses’s assistant.  “Moses my servant is dead.  Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you & all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel.  Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses.  …Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you.  I will not leave you or forsake you.  Be strong & courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them.  Only be strong & very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you.”  (Joshua 1:1–3, 5b–6 ESV)  
 
Just as God promised, He was with Joshua as He had been with Moses.  Just as God parted the waters at the Red Sea, as the people left slavery in Egypt, so God opened the Promised Land by stopping the water of the Jordan River.  
As God had given Moses & Israel victory over Sihon & Og in the wilderness, God gave victory when Joshua led them against the Hittites, the Amorites, Jebusites, & all the other -ites.  God settled them in the land He had promised to Abraham, to Isaac & to Jacob.  Would they be faithful to the God who had done so much for them?   At the end of his life, Joshua said:
“‘If you forsake the Lord & serve foreign gods, then He will turn & do you harm & consume you, after having done you good.’   And the people said to Joshua, ‘No, but we will serve the Lord.’”  (Joshua 24:20–21 ESV)   They did, for a while.  
“Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, & all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua & had known all the work that the Lord did for Israel.”  (Joshua 24:31 ESV)  
As you may know, God’s ancient congregation forgot their Savior who brought them out of slavery.   They polluted the land with idolatry & immorality.  They brought shame to the glory of Yahweh, so, their promised land did not last forever.  Their unbelief got them evicted & sent into exile, but God returned to them & carried a remnant back to Jerusalem.  
The Bible is the church’s Book of Advents.  Century after century God’s comings, big & small, lead to Jesus Christ who is bringing us to a far better Promised Land, to one that is undefiled,  imperishable,  unfading.  Since “Joshua” & “Jesus” are different translations of the
same Hebrew name, Jesus is our Joshua leading us to the Promised Land He won for us.  As St.
Peter wrote:
Blessed be the God & Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!  According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled & unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.  (1 Peter 1:3-5 ESV)  
 
How amazing the love of God that comes to you!   Before the creation of the world, the counsels of the Trinity ordained the advent of the Son into human flesh.    The Spirit of Christ was active in the OT, appearing to the patriarchs & moving the prophets to write about the future sufferings & glory of Jesus.  
The Son’s advent in Bethlehem led to our redemption by His death on the cross, & through the resurrection of Jesus, the Father has given you new birth to eternal life.   Today this Spirit of the Father & the Son rests upon you by your baptism into Christ.  While we look back at all Jesus has done for us in history, we also look forward.  
Like the people of Israel ready to cross a river to an earthly Promised Land, our Joshua is leading us through the valley of the shadow of death to dwell in the house of the Lord forever.  In all the busyness of the Christmas season, is this in the forefront of your thoughts – the promised land before you?   It deserves our greatest care.  
Your children do not earn the gifts you give them, yet you expect them to use those gifts responsibly.   There is no more important stewardship than the stewardship of your eternal salvation.  You have been saved totally by grace, not by your works, but you are responsible for what you do with God’s gifts.  
The ancient Israelites did not enter the earthly Promised Land because of their disobedience.  So, you & I should have the utmost concern to enter the eternal Promised Land that is before us.  Hebrews teaches us to learn from those who did not trust God’s promises:
Since therefore it remains for some to enter [eternal rest],  & those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, again He appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.”  For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on.  So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God,  for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from His.  Let us therefore strive to enter that rest…  (Hebrew 4:6-11 ESV) 
 
Are you striving to enter that rest?  I feel safe in saying that none of us devotes the zeal we ought as Jesus is leading us to the heavenly inheritance.  In our own ways, we are like the disciples who fell asleep in the garden of Gethsemane when they should have been watching with Jesus.  
God is longsuffering.  We are still in the day of grace.  The God who came to Abraham, Isaac & Jacob keeps coming to you in His word & sacraments, in public worship & private devotion.   He keeps making advents to you.  Don’t allow God’s patience lull you into complacency.  Yahweh is still a holy & righteous God.  
Richard Baxter, a Puritan minister in the 17th century, wrote, “A heart set upon heaven is no more but a heart set on God.”[1]   Do you have any greater care, any greater devotion, than your Creator & Savior?   The sermon hymn, “The God of Abraham Praise,” was written by the 18th-century poet Thomas Olivers.  It describes our anticipation for Jesus’ final advent.  
Jesus is now at the right hand of the Father.  When He comes in glory, He will raise our bodies to reunite them with our soul & with our Lord forever in heaven.   The 6th verse of the hymn begins, “The goodly land I see...”    Do you see it?   Do your eyes of faith see it?   Moses saw the earthly Promised Land from Mount Nebo.  Joshua saw it as he led the people in.  
Hebrews urges us on: “Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder & perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him   endured the cross, despising the shame, & is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”  (Hebrews 12:1–2 ESV)    Are you trusting the promises of your Savior?   Does your faith see? 
“The goodly land I see, with peace & plenty blest: A land of sacred liberty & endless rest.  There milk & honey flow, & oil & wine abound, & trees of life forever grow with mercy crowned.        He by Himself has sworn; I on His oath depend.   I shall, on eagles’ wings upborne, to heaven ascend.   I shall behold His face; I shall His power adore & sing the wonders of His grace forevermore.  (LSB 798:6, 4)  
 
 Advent is about Jesus being born & so, so much more!   He who fills all things wants to fill heaven with us who follow Him.  Jesus wants to fill heaven with you, me, & all His children.  As the holidays wear down, & wear you down, I pray your anticipation of the glorious future will grow by the power of God’s Spirit.  Amen.
“In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary you have been grieved by various trials,   so that the tested genuineness of your faith – more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire – may be found to result in praise & glory & honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.  Though you have not seen Him, you love Him.  Though you do not now see Him, you believe in Him  & rejoice with joy that is inexpressible & filled with glory,  obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”  (1 Peter 1:6–9 ESV)  
 
Amen. 


[1] Richard Baxter, The Saints Everlasting Rest (London: The Epworth Press, 1962), 108.