36 "Getting a Glimpse of the Coming Inheritance" Numbers 34:1-29 | Thursday, July 9, 2026

and turn to the book of Numbers, chapter

Numbers 34 · chapter mention

34.

Numbers chapter 34.

Numbers 34 · chapter mention

We're in these final chapters of the

book of Numbers as God is preparing his

people to enter the promised land and is

providing instructions. And that's

really been the the key to the entire

book of Numbers is that God instructs

his people in his ways as he leads them

from Sinai to the promised land in spite

of their failures. God's faithful even

when we fall short. We ought to thank

him for that. He demonstrated that

throughout this book. And now Israel is

on the banks of the promised land nearly

ready to cross over. Moses has recounted

their journey in chapter 33. God has

commanded them to drive out the

inhabitants of the land and destroy all

of their items and places of worship so

that they can enjoy the land that he

gives them. And as we come to chapter

34,

what we have is God tracing the

territorial borders of Israel's

inheritance. And so we're going to go

ahead and take the time to read the

chapter uh because I'll not go verse by

verse through it. So I want you to catch

uh what it's talking about here. So

let's begin reading Numbers 34:1.

Numbers 34:1

And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

"Command the children of Israel, and say

unto them, when you come into the land

of Canaan, this is the land that shall

fall unto you for an inheritance, even

the land of Canaan with the coasts

thereof. Then your south quarter shall

be from the wilderness of Zen along by

the coast of Edom. And your south border

shall be the outmost coast of the salt

sea eastward. And your border shall turn

from the south to the ascent of Acriim,

and pass onto Zen. And the going forth

thereof shall be from the south to

Kadesh Barnea, and shall go on unto

Hesar Adar, and pass unto Azine. And the

border shall fetch a compass from Amin

unto the river of Egypt. And the goings

out of it shall be at the sea. And as

for the western border, ye shall even

have the great sea for a border. That's

the Mediterranean Sea. This shall be

your west border, and this shall be your

north border. From the great sea, ye

shall point out for you Mount

From Mount ye shall point out

your border unto the entrance of

Hammoth. And the goings forth of the

border shall be to Zedad. And the border

shall go on to Ziffron, and the goings

out of it shall be at Hazesar Enan. And

this shall be your north border. And ye

shall point out your east border from

Hesar Enan to Sheph. And the coast shall

go down from Sheam to Ria on the east

side of Aan. And the border shall

descend and shall reach unto the side of

the Sea of Chinareth eastward. The Sea

of Chinth is going to be the Sea of

Galilee. You'll see in the New Testament

it's referred to as the Sea of

Ganesseret. That's the that's the Greek

word for this Hebrew word chinareth. And

so that's where the eastward border is

going to be. And it says in verse 12,

"And the border shall go down to Jordan,

and the goings out of it shall be at the

salt sea. This shall be your land with

the coasts thereof roundabout." And

Moses commanded the children of Israel,

saying, "This is the land which ye shall

inherit by lot, which the Lord commanded

to give unto the nine tribes, and to the

halftribe. For the tribe of the children

of Reuben, according to the house of

their fathers, and the tribe of the

children of Gat according to the house

of their fathers, have received their

inheritance, and the half the tribe of

Manasseh have received their

inheritance." The two tribes in the half

tribe have received their inheritance on

the side Jordan near Jericho eastward

toward the sun rising. And the Lord

spake unto Moses, saying, These are the

names of the men, which shall divide the

land unto you. Eleazar the priest, and

Joshua the son of Nun. And ye shall take

one prince of every tribe to divide the

land by inheritance. And the names of

the men are these, of the tribe of

Judah, Caleb the son of Japana. and of

the tribe of the children of Simeon

Shemuel, the son of Amahud, and of the

tribe of Benjamin Eladad, the son of

Chislon, and the prince of the tribe of

the children of Dan Bakai the son of

Joly, the prince of the children of

Joseph, for the tribe of the children of

Manasseh, Heniel, the son of Ephod, and

the prince of the tribe of the children

of Ephraim, Kemuel the son of Shifan,

and the prince of the tribe of the

children of Zebulun, Elizan, the son of

Parnac, and the children and the prince

of the tribe of the children of

Issachar, Paliel, the son of Azan, and

the prince of the tribe of the children

of Asher, Ahihood, the son of Shilomi,

and the prince of the tribe of the

children of Napali, Padahel, the son of

Amahhood. These are they whom the Lord

commanded to divide the inheritance of

the children of Israel in the land of

Canaan. Now, to us at first glance, this

may not seem of real significance or

spiritual importance to your life, but I

assure you that there's a pattern set

forth here that carries through the

Bible from beginning to end. And I hope

to show you that with God's help tonight

as we talk about this title, getting a

glimpse of the coming inheritance. Let's

pray one more time. Ask God to bless his

word. Lord, I ask you to give us

understanding, clarity of thought and

mind, both to speak and to hear and

apply your word. We need your help

tonight. We ask for it in Jesus' name.

Amen.

This afternoon, I was I came across a

greyhound race. Not the buses, in case

you're wondering. I'm talking about the

dogs, though. I'm sure Greyhound bus

race would probably be quite

entertaining. Uh, but what's amazing is

these greyhounds are incredibly fast.

Some of them reach over 40 miles an hour

as a dog. It's incredible.

They're short on one lap races. They

start off in a box, usually five or six

dogs. The one I was watching in

particular was an Irish Greyhound race.

And and so they had five boxes there, I

believe, and they've got them just boxed

up in these tin little tiny cubicles.

And when they release the gates, those

greyhounds take off. And I mean, they

are just going incredibly fast. And when

I see my dog, what comes to my mind is

how in the world do they get these dogs

to just keep running undistracted? Cuz

my dog, if I take her on a walk, she

can't walk five minutes without getting

distracted by something else. But it's

amazing to see these things just book

it. and they are dead sprint all the way

around this entire track. How do they

maintain that focus

even with other dogs around them and

with the thousands that are watching?

Well, if you're familiar with it,

greyhounds have a strong drive to pursue

prey. And so what they do is on the

outside wall of the track, they've got a

mechanical rabbit. And when they be

getting to start the race, they ring

this buzzer and the rabbit that kind of

signals to the dogs that, "Hey, pay

attention." And they see this rabbit

beginning to run all the way around and

their eyes are just fixed on this thing.

And what happens is they know it's

behind them. And then as soon as that

thing gets over here, the gates release

and they take off after that rabbit. And

so they're actually chasing this

mechanical rabbit all the way around. It

keeps them motivated to stay focused and

in pursuit of that rabbit. You know, in

some ways, we can be a lot like

greyhounds.

We need something dangling in front of

us to keep us motivated. Whether it's a

trophy in sports, a bonus at work, or

the payoff of a hike, there's something

that we try to put in front of us to

cling to and to keep us motivated to

pursue after it. And the same thing can

really be true in our spiritual lives as

well. That sometimes you can become

fatigued in the fight against sin.

The lack of that you you can lack the

motivation in those moments to obey

God's word. You can become so frustrated

with the fighting the same battles with

the same people over the same things

that you don't even want to fight for

what's good or what's right anymore.

Just worn out by it. Sometimes the world

around us can become so opposed to

Christianity, to your values or your

beliefs that you just give up. You can

reach the point where you're like,

"Well, there's no point in voting,

praying, or evangelizing because

particularly Colorado and Boulder is a

lost cause. There's no going back from

where we are." And you can get fatigue

in that way. In some places, persecution

can become so harsh that you can

sometimes be tempted to shrink back from

your faith, to go silent, or perhaps

when when doubt settles in, you can

despair and turn away from your faith.

What I notice is in the New Testament,

there are many letters specifically

written that challenge God's people to

continue going forward, to not shrink

back from their faith, to not turn

aside, but to just keep pursuing the

prize.

And so what that tells me that the in

these moments fatigue, frustration, and

fear can settle in. The question is, how

do we find the motivation to be faithful

and to be obedient to God's word in

those times? I wonder if God has

anything to dangle in front of us that

can propel us forward in faithful

obedience. Is there some kind of trophy

that awaits us? Something to look

forward to, some kind of payoff in our

lives? And I believe we can find that

answer through this text in Numbers 34

because Israel has come through a rough

40 years in the wilderness.

This new generation has shown signs of

faith and obedience along the way. And

now as they stand just on the other side

of Jordan, the Lord has commanded them,

as we saw last week, to drive out all

the inhabitants of the land and to

destroy all their worship and their

places of worship.

But the same battles that were in front

of their faithless fathers still stand

in front of them.

The same powerful kings and armies and

giants are waiting to fight against

them. And the same insurmountable walls

that those spies reported of are still

standing in front of them after all

these years. Think about that. After all

these years, everything that was in

front of their fathers is now in front

of them. This is the generation their

fathers said would be a prey for their

enemies.

to motivate his people to faithfully

obey the command he had just given them.

God immediately dangles in front of them

three asurances of their coming

inheritance.

He points them to the prize that awaits

them.

He shows them that their inheritance was

secured, their inheritance was proven,

and it would come soon.

I want you to notice first of all in our

text that all of the inheritance was

ordered by God. All of it was ordered by

God. Would you look at verse one?

It says, "And the Lord spake unto Moses,

saying, Command the children of Israel

and say unto them, when you come into

the land of Canaan, this is that land

that shall fall unto you for an

inheritance, even the land of Canaan

with the coasts thereof." God God tells

Moses, I want you to command the

children of Israel that when you go into

Canaan, this is the inheritance that

will belong to you. Notice it's a

command from God. This is not an

inheritance that Israel is going to take

by force. This is not one that they are

choosing for their own borders, nor are

they determining their borders according

to their conquest. know the particular

portion of the land that is given to

them is given by the command of the

Lord. It comes from him. But then I want

you to also notice the certainty of it.

He says when you come into the land of

Canaan he doesn't say if you come into

the land of Canaan. No, there's a sense

of certainty and assurance that he is

giving them here. The question is what

is that land? Well, the Lord is now

going to establish the boundaries of the

land. And instead of going through all

the names and cities that are described

here that are ancient that you don't

know, I want to just show you what the

territory is going to look at like. And

so, Becca, if you'll go ahead and put

that first image up there. I want to

show you in modern terms so you can see

today whether the modern countries are,

whether it's Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi

Arabia, you've got Lebanon up there in

the north. Most scholars agree that this

is the overall territory that is traced

out particularly in Numbers 34. Now, if

you were to go back to Genesis and then

to Exodus, you would actually find that

God's promise to Abraham is that this

will extend actually further north into

Syria, north uh northeast actually into

Syria and to the river Euphrates.

That's the whole territory. And so you

look at this and it's a good amount. The

light green territory is for the nine

and a half tribes that are on the west

side of Jordan. And then the dark green

territory is the land that's already

been given to the two and a half tribes,

Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh.

And so this is the particular territory

that God outlines for them. You'll

notice the coast along the Mediterranean

Sea is their natural border there. The

Jordan River is the primary border for

the western tribes. And then it goes a

little bit down there into Egypt. And it

actually goes pretty far up into modern

Lebanon, covering the coastal area of

Phoenicia, Tyra, and Sidon as well. And

so there's a lot of good land here that

God wants to give them. And I want you

to notice uh as we go all the way to

verse 13 now that the Lord specifies

that this is what they're going to

inherit by Lot to give to the nine

tribes and the half tribe. And so that's

who who this particular uh detail is

for. And so we've already been given the

territory of Gad, Reuben, and the

halftribe of Manasseh. What God is doing

here is he is giving the rest of Israel

the blueprint of their coming

inheritance. Now, why is that

significant? Well, when you go to build

a house, you're going to look through a

book of elevations and models, fixtures,

and other options. And and yet when

you're doing that, sometimes you can

have a hard time envisioning what the

house is really going to look like. But

once the architect has gone through the

process and he draws up the blueprints,

it's when you can like start to see it

live for the first time that there's

some assurance that that hey, the the

the borders of the house are drawn and

the framing is drawn and the rooms are

drawn and this is really happening. And

it can get you excited that hey, this

means we're going forward. This means

the work is going to get done. And and

that's what God is doing here for

Israel. He he has commanded them to

enter the land to drive out the

inhabitants. And to further motivate

them, he offers the assurance that the

land is drawn up. The land is ready for

you to take. They might as well draw

this out in a scroll and carry it with

them everywhere they go. Why? To be a

reminder of assurance that there's a

prize awaiting us here. And so God is

giving them the assurance they need to

follow his command to faithfully drive

out the Canaanites. And he begins with

this blueprint of the land. In verses

14- 15 though the Lord offers a second

assurance and that is this that some of

the land has already been given by God.

In verse 14, notice it says, "For the

tribe of the children of Reuben,

according to the house of their fathers,

and the tribe of the children of Gad

according uh to the house of their

fathers have received their inheritance.

And the half-tribe of Manasseh have

received their inheritance." The two and

a half, the two tribes and the

half-tribe have received. You notice

that repetition three times, they have

received. They have received. They have

received. Even a fourth time, they've

all received their inheritance. God is

emphasizing something here. He's saying

that I have already given some to some

of you. What's the significance of that?

Well, they have become the pattern of

what God will do for the rest of the

tribes. Because when the nation of

Israel came into this uh trans Jordan

side, the east side, then the uh king

Sihon and Og fought against Israel. And

this group of unprepared, inexperienced

uh nomads was able to conquer these

powerful kings and God used them to

drive out the inhabitants of the land.

There is what we read earlier in

Numbers. And after they drove them out,

the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the

half-tribe of Manasseh have come and

they have said, "This is a good place

for us. We'll go ahead and take their

cities and then we'll go with you over

into Jordan. And then once everyone has

their inheritance, then we'll come back

and settle in ours." And what God is

saying is, I have done that. I have

given them their inheritance. And just

as I have given them their inheritance,

I will give you your inheritance.

to say what God is doing is he is

showing them that he is good to his

word. He's good to his word. What I've

promised I've already fulfilled for some

and I'll fulfill it for you. Why is it

important that God did that? Let me just

ask you. If you're on Pearl Street,

let's say a stranger comes up to you. It

might be one of those guys doing the

shows down there on Pearl Street. But he

comes up to you and and he says, "Hey,

I'll give you a $100 or if you give me a

$100 right now, I'll give you a thousand

back." Probably going to be like, "I am

not daring put that $100 bill in your

hands." You know, you're going to be a

little bit skeptical of that. You wonder

if it's a scam. Is he going to just take

it and run with it? But then what

happens if you're walking by and you've

got a friend with you and and he says

the same proposition to your friend and

and you know your friend's really dumb

and so your friend takes the $100 bill

and he gives it to him. But then the guy

says, "You know, I'm so glad that you

trusted me. You really helped me prove a

point here and and he starts pulling out

$10 bills and he gives him $1,000."

Well, now he turns to you and says, "You

got a hundred?" At that point, you're

probably like, "Yep, I got it right

here." You know, and given that. Why?

Because he proved to someone else that

he was good to his word. And that's what

God has done here. He has proven to

Reuben and Gadam and NASA that he will

give them this inheritance. He will go

with them and drive out the inhabitants

of land if they will faithfully follow

God's command. He will faithfully

fulfill his promise. And so God has

given them not only the assurance of the

blueprint that the land is drawn up,

it's ready to go. He's now proven to

them that he is good to his word. But

then there's a final assurance that's

given to them. And that's in verses 16

through 29. And that's this. All of the

inheritance

will be divided by this generation's

tribal princes. See what we have here in

verses 16- 29 is the Lord gives Moses

the names of the princes who will divide

the land by inheritance. Look at verse

16. And the Lord said un spake unto

Moses saying these are the names of the

men which shall divide the land unto

you. Notice once again God is speaking

in absolute terms. God is not saying if

you happen to win these battles then

here are the men who will divide the

land. No, he's saying these are the men

that will divide the land to you. And

the first uh three names are actually a

reminder of the failures of the previous

generation.

The first name he mentions is Eleazar

the priest. Why is Eleazar the priest?

Because Aaron failed in the wilderness.

And then it mentions Joshua the son of

Nun. He is the captain who's going to

lead Israel into the promised land. Why?

because Moses also failed in the

wilderness.

And then you come to verse number 19 and

the first of the tribes mentioned here

is Judah. And look at that name, Caleb,

the son of Japona. See, Joshua and Caleb

were part of those 12 spies that went

out to spy out the land 40 years prior

from Kadesh Barnea. And when they came

back, there were 10 spies who gave a bad

report. And they said, "The walls are

too are too high and the giants are too

tall and the armies are too strong and

the land is too rough. We can't go in."

And it was Caleb and it was Joshua said,

"What are you talking about? If the Lord

is with us and the Lord is pleased with

us, we can go in and we can take this

inheritance for ourselves." They were

filled with faith. They were filled with

obedience. And it says that they wholly

followed the Lord. And because of that,

God said that this entire generation

will die in the wilderness. They will

never enter the rest. They will never

see the promised land except for Joshua

and Caleb. And so, while this is a

reminder of the failure of the past,

it's also an assurance of God's present

working in them. Because Joshua and

Caleb, God was faithful to his word with

them as well. Here they are, 80 years

old. And that's what Caleb's going to

say in the book of Joshua is is give me

this mountain. I'm 80 years old and I

haven't aged a bit. You know, he's ready

to go fight. And so God was faithful to

his word to both of these men. And so

then he begins to list the names of the

other remaining tribes. And if you look

at verse 29, it says once again, "These

are they whom the Lord commanded to

divide the inheritance unto the children

of Israel in the land of Canaan."

At the very beginning of numbers

was a census taken and tribal princes

were anointed by God for this very

purpose to lead Israel in and out of

battle when they get to the promised

land. That was God's plan was for those

men 40 years prior at Mount Si to make

it through the wilderness journey to

Kadesh Barnea to spy out the land and

then to go in the land and to lead them

in and out of battle and to bring the

conquest about and to divide to Israel

the inheritance. But because they were

unbelieving and because they were

disobedient, they didn't get to

experience it. But you know what's

happening? their children. These 10

princes who were under 20 years old back

when all of that happened, they have now

been appointed by God to take the place

of their unbelieving fathers and to lead

Israel in. And he says, "These are the

men. This is the generation that shall

divide the land unto you." You know what

God's saying there? You have the

blueprint.

I'm good to my word. This is the

generation.

The the inheritance is just on the other

side.

Now the question here is why?

Why is God so to speak dangling in front

of them

letting them get a glimpse of their

coming inheritance?

The Lord gave Israel this assurance of

their promised inheritance so that they

would faithfully obey the Lord until

their inheritance was received.

He just gave them the command.

Drive out the inhabitants.

And there are going to be inhabitants

that are powerful.

Inhabitants that have chariots of iron

is what Joshua tells us.

inhabitants that are giants, fortresses

that are way stronger than them. And yet

God commands them to drive them out. You

think as they're charging toward Jericho

and all of a sudden boom, they see these

walls, you think there might be

something in their mind that says, "Not

a chance."

And yet when they think back of the call

to drive out the inhabitants, you know

where their mind is also going to go to?

What God did immediately thereafter? He

traced the land for them. He showed them

what was to come. He gave them the

assurance that he's already given some

of them their inheritance. And he gives

them the assurance that these very

captains who are leading them in and out

of battle are going to be the ones then

to divide the lands according to the

house of their fathers. I believe here

is what this text accomplishes.

God is motivating Israel's obedience

with the assurance of their inheritance.

That's the motivation.

That's what he puts in front of them.

But of course, if you look at this map,

what you realize is that Israel never

fully possessed this inheritance.

Uh because in fact by the end of

Joshua's day, if you'll go to the next

one, Becca, the next slide there, by the

end of the conquest, this red portion is

all they had.

That's a a fraction of what God had

promised to them

because Israel failed to drive out the

inhabitants as God commanded. In spite

of the fact that God had given them

these asurances,

they still fell short. They still did

not believe. There are times when you

read the book of Joshua where where it

says that they did not drive out the

inhabitants of land. And then there are

times when it says they could not drive

out the inhabitants of the land. So

which one was it? Were they unable to or

did they just not do it? I think there's

a little bit of play on words there that

because the unbelief in their heart,

they did not nor could they. Why? They

weren't trusting in God. They weren't

looking back at the promise that God

gave them. This is your land. Drive them

out and you'll inherit it because they

did not live by faith. They became

rebellious and disobedient to God

because they allowed the inhabitants to

live among them and they learned their

practices of worship and they began to

be oppressed during the days of the

judges just as God said they would be.

In fact, the only time Israel came close

to possessing all of this territory was

during David and Solomon's reign where

it mentions that their kingdom extended

to the river Euphrates. So, it even went

beyond this to the full scope of God's

promise in Genesis 15. But, of course,

that was short-lived because the kingdom

was divided because of Solomon's sin.

Israel continued to rebel against God in

unbelief until they were finally exiled

for 70 years in Babylon.

Israel's failure, listen closely,

Israel's failure to receive their

inheritance is not a poor reflection on

God's faithfulness.

This did not happen because God was

unfaithful.

This happened because Israel was broken.

Israel could not help themselves.

They could not believe. They could not

obey. They constantly found themselves

falling short of what God had told them

to do. And what it reveals I in in the

nature of mankind is that something has

to change.

Something has to fundamentally change

for Israel and for all of us to fully

possess what God wants for us. something

has to change.

Therefore, while Israel was in exile,

God sent a prophet named Ezekiel.

And Ezekiel unfolded

God's plan for Israel,

that God would make a new covenant, that

God would send a prince,

and that by the ministry of this prince,

God would sprinkle his people clean from

their sin.

God would fundamentally transform their

hearts.

You might remember this. Dry bones

would grow flesh and live again by the

spirit of God.

God would put his spirit within man and

change his heart from a heart of stone

to a heart of flesh. There's going to be

a fundamental transformation that takes

place in the heart of man that can cause

him to obey God's word, that can cause

him to be faithful in ways that he never

was before.

And what you find when you study the

book of Ezekiel is that from chapter 35

through the end of the book, chapter 48,

it's all about this new covenant.

Chapter 36 mentions the new covenant.

Chapter 37 is dry bones living. Chapter

38 through through 40 talks about God

defeating the Israelites enemies, Gog

and Magog in particular. And then what

happens is you find something that

follows and tracks pretty similarly with

the book of Numbers.

God reathers the tribes.

God retraces the borders. And guess

what? In Ezekiel chapter 47, the

Ezekiel 47 · chapter mention

retracing of those borders follows

nearly identically to Numbers 34, nearly

identically.

And what God does in chapter 48 is he

measures a new city.

And the name of this city is called the

Lord is there. And the end of Ezekiel is

about the restoration of God's people

under this new covenant.

And here's where it gets interesting for

us.

In Revelation chapter 21,

Revelation 21 · chapter mention

the Apostle John is given a vision very

similar to the one given to Ezekiel.

Would you go to Revelation 21?

We can't take the time to do it right

now,

but if you want to look at it on your

own, I would encourage you to go back

and read the last eight chapters of

Ezekiel and then go forward and read the

last few chapters of Revelation. If you

have cough cross references in your

Bible, you're going to find Ezekiel 47

and 48 in particular littered all over

this page of scripture.

If you'll look at Revelation 21, look at

verse one. And I saw a new heaven and a

new earth. But we're going to do a

little bit of reading here, so I

encourage you to follow along. And I saw

a new heaven and a new earth. For the

first heaven and the first earth were

passed away, and there was no more sea.

And I, John, saw the holy city, New

Jerusalem, coming down from God out of

heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for

her husband. And I heard a great voice

out of heaven saying,"Behold, the

tabernacle of God is with men." What

does that sound like? The Lord is there.

Right? The Lord is there. That is a

quote from Leviticus 26 as well, where

God's plan was in this tabernacle to

reveal his glory and to live in Israel's

midst.

That's what this is talking about. And

notice what happens. It says, "And he

will dwell with his people, and they

shall be his people, and God himself

shall be with him and be their God."

Ezekiel 36

verse four. "And God shall wipe away all

tears from their eyes, and there shall

be no more death, neither sorrow, nor

crying, neither shall there be any more

pain, for the former things are passed

away. And he that sat upon the throne

said, "Behold, I make all things new."

And he said unto me, "Write, for these

words are faithful and true." And he

said unto me, "It is done. I am Alpha

and Omega, the beginning and the end. I

will give unto him that is a thirst of

the fountain of water of life freely. He

that overcomemeth shall inherit all

these things." Did you catch that? He

that overcomemeth shall inherit all

these things. That's numbers 33. That if

you will drive out all the inhabitants,

I will you will inherit this land.

That's what God told him. If you look

down now at verse number nine,

it says, "There came unto me one of the

seven angels, which had the seven vials

full of the seven last plagues, and

talked with me, saying, Come hither. I

will show thee the bride, the lamb's

wife." What do you think that is? That's

the church. Who's the bride of Christ?

The church. Notice very carefully in

verse 10. And he carried me away in the

spirit to great and high mountain and

showed me. Let me ask you for a second.

What did he just say? I will show thee

the bride, the lamb's wife. What does he

say that he shows me? That great city,

the holy Jerusalem, descending out of

heaven from God, having the glory of

God. And her light was like under the

stone most precious, even like a jasper

stone, clear and crystal, and had a a a

wall great and high, and had 12 gates,

and at the gates 12 angels, and names

written thereon, which are the names of

the 12 tribes of the children of Israel.

That as well comes directly from Ezekiel

48, where there are 12 gates, and they

have the names of the children of Israel

upon them. the tribes. It says in verse

15, "And he that talked with me had a

golden reed to measure the city and the

gates thereof, and the wall thereof, and

the city lith four square." You know

what else did that city that was written

about in Ezekiel chapter 48? Four square

Ezekiel 48 · chapter mention

measured out. So there's a measuring of

a new city. And and let me just say

this. Here's what was going on in

Ezekiel.

It was it was a restoration vision. It

was a here's the brokenness of Israel.

Here's how God says, "Here's how I am

going to fix it. I'm going to recreate

their heart. And I'm going to sprinkle

them clean. And I'm going to give them

my Holy Spirit. And then here's what I'm

going to do. I'm going to I'm going to

re reather the tribes by name. And I'm

going to retrace their territories by

name. And I'm going to rememeasure the

city. And I'm going to rememeasure the

walls. And I'm going to rememeasure the

temple." And it's going through

everything that would communicate to

Israel. Broken and fatigued and weary

and exile. Restoration is coming. Change

is coming. You know what God was doing

in Ezekiel? He was dangling in front of

them while they were in exile. Yet

another vision of the inheritance to

come. And what we find in Revelation is

God is doing the same thing. It says in

verse number 17, "And he measured the

wall there of 140 and four cubits

according to the measure of a man that

is of the angel. And the building of the

wall it was of jasper. And the city was

pure gold like in a clear glass. And the

foundations of the wall of the city were

garnished with all manner of precious

stones. The first foundation was jasper,

the second sapphire, the third aided,

the fourth an emerald. I think you're

getting the idea here. This place is

beautiful. Verse number 21. And the 12

gates were 12 pearls, and every several

gate was one was of one pearl. And the

street of the city was like pure gold as

it were transparent glass. And I saw no

temple in there therein. For the Lord

God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple

of it. And the city had no need for the

sun, neither of the moon to shine in the

for the glory of God did light in it.

And the Lamb is the light thereof. And

the nations of them which are saved

shall walk in the light of it. And the

kings of the earth do bring their glory

and honor into it. And the gates of it

shall not be shut all by day. For there

shall be no night there. And there shall

they shall bring the glory and honor of

the nations into it. And there shall in

no wise enter into it anything that

defileth neither whatsoever workketh

abomination or maketh a lie but they

which are written in the Lamb's book of

life. And he showed me a pure river of

water of life clear as crystal

proceeding out of the throne of God and

of the Lamb. In the midst of the street

of it and on either side of the river

there was the tree of life which bare 12

manner of fruits and yielded her fruit

every month. And the leaves of the tree

were for the healing of the nations. And

if you have a cross reference there,

you're going to find what my Bible has.

Ezekiel 47:12,

Ezekiel 47:12

because there is mentioned a river

flowing from it, that the fruit brings

lush healing to all the nations. It says

in verse three, "And there shall be no

more curse, but the throne of God and

the of the lamb shall be in it, and his

servants shall serve him, and they shall

they shall see his face, and his name

shall be in their foreheads, and there

shall be no night there, and they need

no candle, neither light of the sun, for

the glory of God giveth them light, and

they shall reign forever and ever." And

he said unto me, "These sayings are

faithful and true." Watch this. And the

Lord God of the holy prophets

sent his angel to show unto his servants

the things which must shortly be done.

The Lord God of the holy prophets.

He's the one who sent this.

What we see is a clear pattern

from the law, the prophets, and the New

Testament that when God's people are up

against it, Israel before Jordan, Israel

in Babylon, you know who Revelation is

written to? Churches in exile,

churches who are at home where they live

and yet are more like strangers and

pilgrims. churches with Christians who

have been killed right there in the

midst of their church. Christians who

are up against it, you might say,

Christians who are tempted to shrink

back. And you know what God does uh

before Israel in Jordan and Israel and

Babylon and these churches under

persecution? He motivates his people to

faithful obedience by assuring them of

their coming inheritance. He does it

throughout scripture

and it's tied here to Numbers 34.

The question then is when the world

stands against you and the enemy is

attacking you and when persecution comes

and the battle is raging, what can keep

you from shrinking back? What can keep

you from faltering in doubt? What will

help you remain faithfully obedient to

the Lord come what may? And what we find

is that the motivation of faithful

obedience is found in the assurance of

your inheritance.

Your inheritance is secured by God. It's

ordered by him. He's proven that he's

true to his word. And so when you come

through a time of wilderness testing, a

time that's been mixed with faith and

failure, you come around the corner and

more battles await and you can begin to

wonder, "How am I going to make it

through this one? I know what God has

told me to do, but I don't know that I

have the strength to fight for my

purity, to fight for my marriage, to

fight for my freedom from this enslaving

sin. I feel beat down, broken, and

empty. It feels like this battle, this

enemy, this problem is insurmountable.

Believer, it's in those times of deep

struggle when you need to look to the

inheritance that Christ has secured for

you because he's already fought the

battle with sin and won it. He's freed

you from its dominion. He has changed

your heart. He has given you his Holy

Spirit to strengthen and enable you to

live in faithful obedience. Even now, do

you realize that we have already

received some of our inheritance?

We have received the changed heart. We

have received the sprinkling from all of

our sin by the blood of Jesus Christ. We

have received the power of the Holy

Spirit who enables us to walk in God's

ways. We have already received part of

our inheritance.

But because Jesus shed his blood on the

cross for your sin, he has secured for

you a place that is eternal. It is a

heavenly home where the battle is done,

where the enemy is defeated, where the

fight is finished and sin is finished.

And so I just want to encourage you

tonight. Don't wain. Don't lose heart.

Don't give up on the battles for good

and godliness and righteousness.

Continue to wage war against evil.

Continue to fight for your families.

Continue to fight for your faith.

continue to battle for the lost in our

city. Do not give up, friends. We have

something awaiting us that is not worthy

to be compared with what with what is to

come. We can't even describe it that's

coming.

The motivation to remain faithful and re

remain obedient is in the inheritance to

come in Christ.

Can I say that when you feel like you're

in exile,

when you're an American citizen,

a native Colorado, and yet you feel like

a foreigner, a stranger, a pilgrim,

unwelcome in your homeland, particularly

because of your faith, you remember your

citizenships in heaven.

Nobody can take that away. You remember,

as the old song says, "This world is not

my home. I'm just passing through. My

treasures are laid up somewhere beyond

the blue. Friends, we have a citizenship

in heaven.

When the system of this evil world

begins to attack your faith, to silence

your voice to and when persecution

comes, remember that a day is coming

when Christ will return. when he will

defeat all of his enemies and he will

deliver you from all danger and bring

you to a land o of which we read that

there is no psychological, emotional or

physical damage, no sin, no suffering,

no pain and no death when there's no

more tears for God wipes them all away

and fills you with eternal lasting joy

in Jesus Christ. That's what awaits you.

It's a land where when you are settled

and secured in the presence of God,

Christ will finally and forever judge

Satan, he will utterly destroy the very

presence of evil. It is a city with

streets of gold, walls of jasper, and

gates of pearl. A place where there's no

need for the sun or the moon because the

brightness of the glory of God and our

savior Jesus Christ will light up the

whole world.

It's a place

where you will see him face to face.

Did you read that?

Face to face.

Right now, you you may struggle in your

life that if God would just appear to

me, if God would just speak to me, then

I could fight harder, then I could

really receive the encouragement. No,

friend, God hasn't chosen to operate

that way. But what he has chosen is to

lay before you and trace the boundaries

of and lift your eyes unto the day that

you will see him face to face. That day

is coming. And so remain faithful.

Be faithful. This is the consistent

challenge to God's people. Whether we're

talking about in numbers or we're

talking about in Ezekiel or Revelation

and really everything in between, God's

challenge is be faithful and obedient no

matter what because God has assured you

a glorious inheritance to come. It's

certain.

This inheritance has been graciously

secured by the blood of Jesus Christ.

It's been ordered by God. And God is

good to his word. So when you're

struggling to be faithful and obedience

to Christ and obedient to Christ, look

to the insurance of your inheritance.

That's where you'll find the

encouragement

to not just lolly gag through your

Christian life, but to sprint through

it. Remember Paul said, "I press toward

the mark for the prize of the high

calling of God in Christ Jesus." He

said, "That I may know him and the power

of his resurrection and the fellowship

of his sufferings."

Paul pressed toward that prize.

And that's how we can as well keep your

eyes on the prize. Can I ask you, does

that inheritance belong to you?

Christ is the only way in.

Only he could pay the price for your

sin. Only he could secure your place in

God's eternal kingdom. And if you will

trust him as your savior tonight, you

can walk away from this place with

confidence

in full assurance of faith

that there is a coming inheritance.

And that inheritance can motivate you to

remain faithful and obedient to Christ

come what may. Thank God for a glimpse

at the coming inheritance.

Our Lord, we give you thanks

that you did not leave us wondering

what's to come,

but you have promised us through a

faithful thread of scripture

that a glorious inheritance

awaits us who have been graciously

brought in to this new covenant by the

blood of Jesus Christ.

We as Gentiles here tonight

were not a people,

but you made us your people. And you

brought us into this glorious

inheritance.

And we owe to you our faithfulness

and our obedience.

May we lean and depend on this assurance

as we face the struggles and battles of

today.

In Jesus name I pray. Amen.