Preparation for the Promised Land (Part 2: the promise of conquest)

As we continue in our series from the book of Exodus, we have come to the

place where God is about to renew the covenant with His people

They are still at the foot of the mountain and He really wants them to succeed, so He is about to show then yet again in a very tangible way, who

He is.

God wanted them to succeed so much that He tells them 3 things:

• Assures them of His presence

• Warns them not to provoke Him

• Promises to bless them and give them victory

Exo 23:20 - "Behold, I send an Angel before you to keep you in

the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared.

Exo 23:21 - Beware of Him and obey His voice; do not provoke

Him, for He will not pardon your transgressions; for My name is in

Him.

Exo 23:22 - But if you indeed obey His voice and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your

enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.

Exo 23:23 - For My Angel will go before you and bring you in to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites and

the Hivites and the Jebusites; and I will cut them off.

Exo 23:24 - You shall not bow down to their gods, nor serve

them, nor do according to their works; but you shall utterly

overthrow them and completely break down their sacred pillars.

Exo 23:25 - "So you shall serve the LORD your God, and He will bless your bread and your water. And I will take sickness away from the

midst of you.

Exo 23:26 - No one shall suffer miscarriage or be barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of

your days.

Exo 23:27 - "I will send My fear before you, I will cause confusion

among all the people to whom you come, and will make all your

enemies turn their backs to you.

Exo 23:28 - And I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the

Hittite from before you.

Exo 23:29 - I will not drive them out from before you in one year,

lest the land become desolate and the beasts of the field become too

numerous for you.

Exo 23:30 - Little by little I will drive them out from before you,

until you have increased, and you inherit the land.

Exo 23:31 - And I will set your bounds from the Red Sea to the

sea, Philistia, and from the desert to the River. For I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your

hand, and you shall drive them out before you.

Exo 23:32 - You shall make no covenant with them, nor with their

gods.

Exo 23:33 - They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against Me. For if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to

you."

3 things that He said to them:

#1 - He promises to send His Messenger (Angel)

Who is this Angel?

Jesus!

Jos 5:13 - And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, a Man stood opposite him with His

sword drawn in His hand. And Joshua went to Him and said to Him, "Are You

for us or for our adversaries?"

Jesus!

Jos 5:14 - So He said, "No, but as Commander of the army of the LORD I have now come." And Joshua

fell on his face to the earth and worshiped, and said to Him, "What does my Lord say to His servant?"

Jesus!

Jos 5:15 - Then the Commander of the LORD's army said to Joshua, "Take your

sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy." And Joshua

did so.

Jesus!

Joh 1:1 - In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,

and the Word was God.

Jesus!

Joh 1:2 - He was in the beginning with God.

Jesus!

Joh 1:3 - All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was

made that was made.

Jesus!

Col 1:15 - He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all

creation.

Jesus!

Col 1:16 - For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities

or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.

Jesus!

Col 1:17 - And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.

Jesus!

Heb 1:1 - God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past

to the fathers by the prophets,

Jesus!

Heb 1:2 - has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has

appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;

Jesus!

Heb 1:3 - who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of

His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on

high,

Jesus!

Heb 1:4 - having become so much better than the angels, as He has by

inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.

His Messenger (Angel) would protect them and bring them in to the

promised land

#2 – He warned them not to provoke Him:

• Beware of Him – fear

• Obey His voice

• Do not provoke Him – through unbelief, murmurings or complaints

• He will not pardon your transgressions

• My name is in Him

#3 - He promises them blessing and victory!

• He would be an enemy to their enemies and an adversary to their adversaries

• He would cut off their enemies

• He would bless their bread and their water

• He would take sickness away from their midst

• He would fulfil the number of their days – their lives would not be shortened

• He would send fear before them

• He would confuse their enemies and make them run

• He would send hornets before them

• He would drive them out little by little

• He would give them clear borders

• They would drive their enemies out

What can we learn from this?

Remember, these thing were written for our examples:

1Co 10:11 - Now all these things happened to them as examples,

and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends

of the ages have come.

God wants us to succeed just as much as He wanted them to

succeed!

He has sent us His Messenger – Jesus dwells in us by His Spirit

Joh 14:18 - I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.

Be warned – don’t murmur or complain as they did.

He promises to take us through the wilderness and bring us to victory!