Shadows to Substance: Canaan & Heaven - DJ Dickerson

This morning we are continuing in our

series Shadows to Substance. And I I

have looked at, like I said, several

other lessons that we'll be considering

before we bring this less this series to

a close. And I certainly do appreciate

the encouragement that I've been given

to continue this series. So, uh, as

we've noted throughout this series,

again, from the beginning, God has, uh,

been teaching us through shadows. A lot

of shadows, I believe we'd agree so far.

Uh, and those shadows are temporary

pictures that are pointing forward to

something greater. We have noted that.

And as we continue, we are reminded that

every shadow finds its meaning, its very

fulfillment in Jesus Christ. So from the

opening pages of scripture, God is

presented as a God who leads his people

somewhere. You ever notice that he's

always leading his people somewhere? He

does not simply deliver them from

danger. He delivers them to a

destination. And salvation in the Bible

is it's never just about leaving or

escaping or anything like that. It's

about arrival.

So friends, one of the most comforting

truths in the Bible is that God never

saves his people from something

without also saving them to something.

And I believe we're going to see that

this morning in our lesson in this

shadows to substance

part whatever number it might be

entitled Canaan and heaven.

Now,

God has shown us as our minds will

certainly reflect and we'll look at

these passages that will take us first

to Genesis chapter 12. We noticed some

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

of that a moment ago. So, I'd encourage

you to go ahead to Genesis 12

because

we know God has rescued. He has

delivered

certainly,

but again, he's leading his people

somewhere. And that's why the story of

of Israel is so powerful because in the

Old Testament, God's people were

delivered from Egypt and they were led

toward a place called Canaan. And what

we'll find of course in this is again

reminding ourselves even that Canaan is

a promised land, a prepared land, an

inherited land. But as wonderful as

Canaan was, it was never the final goal.

And Canaan was simply again as we'll

talk about that shadow. It was a

goddesigned picture that portrayed that

of a greater promise in that of heaven,

the eternal rest and the home of the

redeemed. So, as we follow the account

of the promised land, uh the the journey

to it, the rest that's found there, the

warning of of those who who never

entered, and the way God used all of

that to point us to a greater country,

it's my hope and prayer this morning

that as we walk through this, you'll not

only see the pattern, but I would even

say that you feel the pull of heaven

because God is still leading his people

somewhere.

So, let's talk about Canaan, this land

that was promised by God. Now, you'll

notice that in your studies when you

look and we even talked about Genesis

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

chapter 12 last Sunday uh morning and

Genesis chapter 12 that that this this

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

land of Canaan even really entered the

biblical story, the account if you will,

not as as a human ambition but as a

divine promise because Genesis chapter

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

12 tells us that God called Abram out of

and said what? Get out of your country,

from your family, and your and from your

father's house to a land that I will

show you.

Remember we talked about last Sunday. I

will make you a great nation. The Lord

said, he said, I will bless you and make

your name great, and you shall be a

blessing. I will bless those who bless

you, and I will curse him who curses

you, and in you all the families of the

earth shall be blessed.

You see, that's the thing. Abram didn't

select the place, right? He didn't do

that. Abram wasn't even negotiating the

the the terms as to as to how this is

all going to happen or or the property

that he wanted to have. God simply

promised and God uh when he promised

that Abram obeyed. Now, that's important

because it reminds us that Canaan was

never merely just some type of uh we

might say real estate. Okay, that's not

what it was. It was again as the

scriptures unfold, it was evidence. It

was it's provided to us as evidence of

God's faithfulness.

And over and over again, you know what

the Lord said, and I was going through a

few of these in my study and preparing

the lesson. Uh, one of those I was

thinking about, Genesis 12:7, you read

Genesis 12:7

on down, you're going to find that the

Lord appeared to Abram and said, "To

your descendants, I will give this

land."

One of the key things I want us to point

out here is I will give. That's God

saying it. I will give. Look in Genesis

17 and verse 8. That's another one where

you see this. I give to you. Also, I

give to you and your descendants after

you the land in which you are a

stranger. All the land, what's the name

of the land? Canaan.

as an everlasting possession and I will

be their God. Now those are just a

couple of passages I wanted to show you

and emphasize what God was saying. I

will give

I will. He framed the promise in grace.

He gave Israel a future that they didn't

even create. Right

now go to Exodus chapter 3. Now

Exodus 3 · chapter mention

following along here. Exodus chapter 3,

Exodus 3 · chapter mention

God tells Moses that he has heard the

cry of his people and will bring them

out of Egypt. Exodus chapter 3, this is

Exodus 3 · chapter mention

where you find that verses seven and 8.

Again, prove all things according to

God's word, not DJs. And the Lord said,

I have surely seen the oppression of my

people who are in Egypt, and I have

heard their cry because of their

taskmasters. For I know their sorrows,

so I have come down to deliver them out

of the hand of the Egyptians. And here

it is to bring them up from that land to

a good and large land to a land flowing

with milk and honey to the place of the

Canaanites and the Hittites and the

Amorites and the Parisites and the

Hivites and the Jebusites.

Y'all notice that he said that he was

going to bring them out of Egypt into a

good and large land, a land flowing with

milk and honey.

Do you ever notice something about this?

That God describes the land as good

before they ever even see it.

And he promises that there's blessings

ahead of the experience. And yet, even

as God promised Canaan, he was also

teaching that the promised land on earth

was not the final hope even. And that's

when you go, let's go to Hebrews chapter

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

11 for just a moment.

Hebrews chapter 11.

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

And notice in Hebrews chapter 11 that

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

that speaking of the hall of faith, then

of course you get down to a Abraham and

and Abraham is is being described by

faith and and and understanding that he

he left his country. He he he obeyed

what God had said for him to do as we

saw from Genesis 12. And it tells that

Abraham lived like a stranger in the

land. What was he doing? He was dwelling

in tents because he was looking beyond

Canaan. Look at the way it said by

faith. Verse eight, by faith Abraham

obeyed when he was called to go out to

the place which he would receive as an

inheritance. And he went out not knowing

where he was going. By faith he dwelt in

the land of promise, as in a foreign

country, dwelling in tents with Isaac

and Jacob, the heirs with him of the

same promise. Look at verse 10.

For he waited for the city which has

foundations,

whose builder and maker is God.

In other words, Abraham lived in the

shadow and all the while he was looking

for the substance.

And I believe there's application in all

of this.

That faith begins

when we do just like we see here in

Hebrews 11 by faith.

When we trust when we believe God's

promise more than the present

circumstances

because that's what Abram had to do

because he left his familiar

surroundings and he went not knowing

where he was going. How how how would we

do that, right?

We plot our journeys out, don't we?

But what Canaan teaches us that God's

people move forward because God has

spoken.

And there's a lot of lessons that we can

certainly get into that for sure, but

time will not allow today to go into

that. So, let's talk about the journey

to Canaan. Okay, this is really what

what I would call a pilgrimage of faith.

a pilgrimage of faith.

Now, you might remember that between

Egypt and Canaan, there was something

else. What was that? It's called a

wilderness. It was a wilderness. And I

would submit to you that the wilderness

is where faith is tested.

Israel's journey teaches us that

salvation, it's not merely an an event.

It's truly a walk. And Israel was

redeemed by blood at Passover. Remember

that? And then they were called to

travel. They were called to follow. They

were called to trust. They were called

to endure.

That passage that was ringing out in my

study was Deuteronomy chapter 8. And I

Deuteronomy 8 · chapter mention

wanted to share that one with you this

morning as well. Look at Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy 8 · chapter mention

chapter 8. And although there's a lot

that certainly Deuteronomy chapter 8

Deuteronomy 8 · chapter mention

has, I would encourage you to read that.

Deuteronomy chapter 8 verses 1 through3.

Deuteronomy 8:1–3

Let's just look at that one.

He says, "Every commandment which I

command you today, you must be careful

to observe

that you may live and multiply and go in

and possess the land which the Lord

swore to your fathers. And you shall

remember that the Lord your God led you

all the way these 40 years in the

wilderness to humble you, test you, to

know what was in your heart, whether you

would keep his commandments or not. So

he humbled you, allowed you to hunger,

fed you with mana, which you did not

know, nor did your fathers know, that he

might make you know that man shall not

live by bread alone, but man lives by

every word that proceeds from the mouth

of the Lord.

You see, Moses explains here that God

used the wilderness to do certain

things, to humble them, to test what was

in their hearts.

And the wilderness revealed whether

Israel would live by faith or by sight.

And friends, that wilderness journey

is actually a mirror of our spiritual

reality.

When we obey the gospel, God delivers us

from bondage and captivity of sin,

but we still travel through a world

that's not our final home. Remember that

song we sing quite often? This world is

not my home.

I'm just passing through.

Because guess what? Although I come up

as a new creation out of the watery

grave of baptism, I've been buried with

Christ to arise and walk in newness of

life as Romans 6 and4 says that I am in

that relationship with God through Jesus

Christ. Guess what? I'm still going to

have temptations and I'm still going to

have trials and I'm still there's still

going to be times of discouragement.

There's going to be spiritual battles on

every corner.

And just as Israel had to keep moving

toward Canaan, Christians must keep

moving toward heaven.

That's why scripture,

and I mean there's a lot that I can show

you, but again, for time's sake, this

stimulates our minds. I'm just going to

give you First Peter 2 11 and 12 is a

prime example. One of these right here,

Peter says to the Christian, "Beloved, I

beg you as what? Sojourers and pilgrims,

abstain from fleshly lust, which war

against the soul, having your conduct

honorable among the Gentiles, that when

they speak against you as evildoers,

they may by your good works which they

observe glorify God in the day of

visitation.

See, we're described the same way. We're

just pilgrims. We're just solders.

And we only have a limited time here

upon this earth

to do what God has called us to do as

his people leading us somewhere.

That's why when you think about what

Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:7, for we

2 Corinthians 5:7

walk by faith and not by sight.

As God's children, we're still on a

journey. See, that baptism, that's not

the end all. That's how we become

members of the body of Christ. We're

added to his church.

You see, the wilderness is not proof.

Some say, "Well, the wilderness, you

know, God failed." No, the wilderness is

is is not proof that God failed. It's

proof that God was shaping

in his infinite wisdom. That's what the

wilderness does.

That's why James 1 talks about cannot

joy when you fall into various trials

because there's rhyme and reason behind

those because that's where growth

occurs.

Some of God's greatest work

happens between deliverance and

destination.

The growth process is beautiful.

Let's talk about Canaan some more about

this land of rest. Some I want to make a

distinction here again. Is it's land of

it's called a land of rest but it's not

perfect rest.

And if you ever notice that when when

Joshua leads Israel into Canaan, the

Bible makes a triumphant statement. If

you go to Joshua chap 21 and look at

verses 43 uh through 45. Joshua chapter

Joshua 21:43–45

21

verses 43- 45.

So the Lord gave to Israel all the land

of which he had sworn to give to their

fathers and they took possession of it

and dwelt in it. The Lord gave them rest

all around according to all that he had

sworn to their fathers. And not a man of

all their enemies stood against them.

The Lord delivered all their enemies

into their hand. Not a word failed of

any good thing which the Lord had spoken

to the house of Israel. And it came to

pass.

Think about this. For a people who had

wondered,

this was glorious. I mean, no more

moving tents. That's pretty exciting,

isn't it? No more endless desert. No

more Egyptian chains. They had a home.

You think about what all that meant to

them. You think about cities, vineyards,

fields, all of those things.

But again, the key is this. Canaan was a

rest, but not the ultimate rest.

Even in the promised land, even in the

promised land of Canaan,

they still had enemies.

They still had temptations. They still

had wars. They still There's still sin.

There's still death.

And that's why from our scripture

reading this morning, Hebrews 4 and

verse 8, for if Joshua had given them

rest, then he would not afterward have

spoken of another day.

In other words, the rest that Joshua

provided, yes, it was real,

but it was incomplete

because God's true rest was still ahead.

Here's the shadow.

So what we see is that yes, earthly

blessings, they're they're they're

they're real and we should certainly

thank God that we have them, but none of

them are final.

Even the best Canaan here on this earth,

and we could classify that as whether we

have health or or or home, success,

whatever on the worldly standard or

worldly stage for that matter, still has

sorrows of some sort attached to it.

The heart was made for a better rest.

See, and it takes that physical stuff.

It says that's, you know, we're got to

look at the spiritual side here

because the land of Canaan, as we've

been noting,

was a type of heaven.

Was a type of heaven.

And what we do is we see really we start

seeing the pattern clearly.

Canaan points forward to heaven in

really a lot of profound ways.

I'll share a few of them. Uh Canaan

first of all was promised and guess

what? Heaven is promised.

God's people move toward Canaan because

God promised it.

Likewise, we as Christians, we move

toward heaven because well, God promised

it. What's John 14 in verse two say?

In my father's house are many mansions.

If it were not so, I would have told

you, I go to prepare a place for you.

Canaan was promised to Abraham's seed.

Heaven is promised to Christ disciples.

What about this one? Canaan was

prepared. Heaven's prepared. We just saw

that in John 14.

Israel entered houses they did not build

and vineyards they did not plant. Yet

heaven is not something we design. It's

something God has prepared. That's again

John 14:2.

John 14:2

Canaan was inherited.

Heaven is inherited. Israel received

Canaan like an inheritance from God's

promise in heaven is described that same

exact way in 1 Peter 1 and verse three

and four. Blessed be the God and father

of our Lord Jesus Christ who according

to his abundant mercy has begotten us

again to a living hope through the

resurrection of Jesus Christ from the

dead to an inheritance incorruptible and

undefiled and that does not fade away

reserved where? In heaven for you.

That's for God's children.

And speaking of that, what else do we

think about how Canaan pointed toward

forward to heaven? Well, I would submit

to you, Canaan required faith and

obedience, and heaven does too.

There it is.

Israel had to follow God's direction.

They had to cross the Jordan.

They had to fight battles. Think think

about that with, you know, I mean,

there's a lot of examples that I I was

considering,

but what about the battle that they went

forward?

Call of Joshua, right? What do he want

them to do? Remember the walls of

Jericho? That was a pretty big one,

wasn't it? Not a way. Not not those

walls weren't going to fall according

the way man. They had to they had to do

what God directed them to do. March

around seven times, right? They had all

these things that were God said for them

to do and those walls would fall.

But they had to obey

his commands.

That's just one of many that you find

that they had to have faith and

obedience.

So how do we apply that even today?

Heaven is not entered through casual

interest, right?

It means we have invested interest. And

if you have an invested interest in

something, you're going to your time is

going to be used a lot more wisely.

You're going to prioritize.

So yeah, heaven's not a casual interest.

It's not empty words. It's through faith

that obeys

because we think about that place of

rest that Canaan was and that's what

heaven is considered but heaven is the

final rest as from our scripture this

morning we read verse eight a moment ago

or verse uh verse eight of Hebrews 4

there remains therefore a rest for the

people of God verse 9 there remains

for he who has entered his rest has

himself also ceased from his works as

God did from his

Canaan, you know, thinking about the

journey that they were on and all the

way back, thinking about Egyptian

captivity, it gave rest from Pharaoh and

and all of those types of things. Heaven

heaven gives rest from sin, sorrow,

death, and the devil forever. Friends,

God has always trained his people with

visible promises to strengthen them for

invisible ones. Let that sink in for a

second. Canaan was God saying, "You can

trust me to keep my word through from

the very beginning of the opening pages

of the Bible and we go all the way

through it. His character unfolds before

us and it shows us exactly

who God is.

that he is true, that he is faithful.

And friends, if thinking about how that

all unfolded from Canaan, we can

certainly trust him about heaven.

Again, there's a lot

to both of these

and the shadows that the shadow that

Canaan certainly is.

But I want to share with you something

that's already I've already mentioned.

But I want us to look at this solemn

warning

that we need to take seriously as well

about those who failed to enter Canaan.

That one of the most sobering truths in

the Old Testament is that many

Israelites who left Egypt never entered

Canaan.

And a question might rise, well, why?

Why didn't they?

Well, Hebrews chapter 3 gives us again

Hebrews 3 · chapter mention

some insight. I mean, it's re re

recollecting obviously from the Old

Testament. But Hebrews chapter 3 16-19

Hebrews 3 · chapter mention

speaks of this. For who having heard

rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who

came out of Egypt led by Moses? Now with

him, who

was he angry 40 years? Was it not with

those who sinned, whose corpses fell in

the wilderness? And to whom did he swear

that they would not enter his rest, but

to those who did not obey?

So, we see that they could not enter in

because of unbelief.

Here's something I want us to just grab

a hold of as well.

They saw miracles.

They heard God's voice. They ate mana.

They drank water from the rock.

And still they hardened their hearts.

Hebrews uses Israel as a warning to

Christians.

Don't drift. Don't harden your heart.

Don't stop believing. Don't trade the

promise for the present.

That's the problem that we have. There's

so many just

Hebrews 4:1 says, "Let us therefore or

Hebrews 4:1

be diligent to enter that rest, lest

anyone fall according to the same

example of disobedience. He's referring

back to the days of old.

It is possible to start the journey and

fail to finish if faith dies.

Friends, the question is not merely,

have you left Egypt? The question is,

are you still walking toward home?

When we speak of home, the only way that

I think I could end this lesson is

basically off the point about heaven

is a true and final rest.

That's the substance that Canaan was

pointing us to.

Friends, we lift our eyes from the

shadow to the substance. And heaven is

not simply we say, well, it's a better

version of Canaan. That's that's not it.

Okay? Heaven is the end of everything

that hurts.

Revelations 21:es 3 and 4. You know, we

were studying the book of Revelation,

our adult Bible class recently. Uh, and

the last thinking about what's what's

stated in these last chapters, but

chapter 21:es 3 and 4. And I heard a

loud voice from heaven saying, "Behold,

the tabernacle of God is with men, and

he will dwell with them, and they shall

be his people. God himself will be with

them and be their God. And God will wipe

away every tear from their eyes. And

there shall be no more death, nor

sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no

more pain. For the former things have

passed away.

You see, here's a distinction that's

made. Canaan had enemies. Heaven has

none. Canaan had graves. Heaven has

none. CA Canaan could be invaded.

Heaven cannot. Canaan could be lost.

Heaven is secure forever. And that's why

you spend time in the scriptures and you

look at this wonderful design and what

it's all pointing toward like 2

Corinthians 5 and verse one, what Paul

says, "For we know that if our earthly

house," he's talking about our bodies.

He's talking about our physical tents.

This tent is destroyed. We have a

building from God, a house not made with

hands, eternal in the heavens.

He's saying that's home. If you lose

something here, yeah, it hurts, but for

the Christian, nothing is lost forever.

Heaven makes grief bearable and faith

worthwhile.

And what kind of encouragement do we

certainly need from lessons like this

is, friends, we need to live today as

people that are actually headed home.

Because I I look at the Israelites and

as much as we might, you know, cast

stones at them and say, "I don't know

what's wrong with these people." They

saw they whine and, you know, they, you

know, gripe and complain about, "Oh,

we're starving to death out here and yet

here's bread, right? Well, we're

thirsty. Well, here's water came from a

rock." You know,

do we not see ourselves in them?

I think we we we have some things in

common with these folks

because we're on a journey too. But what

they're what what Moses was trying to

get through their heads as well is you

need to live in such a way in this

journey that we actually make it to

Canaan.

That we actually make it there the

promised land.

And since heaven is our Canaan, how

should we live? Well, Philippians 3:20

Philippians 3:20

and 21 is one of the verses that Paul

says about our citizenship. For our

citizenship is in heaven from which we

also eagerly wait for the Savior, the

Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform

our lowly body that it may be conformed

to his glorious body, according to the

working by which he is able even to

subdue all things to himself.

Do you know what that means? It means

that we must not let Egypt become our

comfort zone. See that that's the

problem that they had back then too. It

means we live we have different values.

We choose holiness over indulgence.

We true faithfulness over popularity.

And yes, that means that we have to go

against the grain of what our culture

says is right and good in their own

eyes.

We have to take truth over convenience.

And we have to choose eternity over

temporary pleasure.

We don't despise blessings here.

But we refuse to confuse them with home.

You know, as that old saying is that

everybody wants to go to heaven, but

nobody wants to go. Now

that's weird, doesn't it? It sounds

weird.

I always wondered if you told that

people of the Israelites said, "Are you

ready to get to Canaan?" And they're

like, "Yeah, you want to we we could be

transported there right now." No.

Why? They were wanting to go back to

Egypt, weren't they? They weren't

willing to go through those things that

shaped them and forwarded them.

Friends, we live like pilgrims with our

eyes forward.

As a Christian who forgets heaven

will eventually start living like Egypt

isn't so bad.

But a Christian

who keeps heaven in view, keeps focus,

can endure any wilderness.

I've met those Christians who have went

through some terrible, terrible times

and they endured some really bad things

in the wilderness.

But then they teach such valuable

lessons

that the song many times says that we

sing of heaven.

Friends,

Canaan was promised.

Heaven is promised. Canaan was prepared.

Heaven's prepared. Canaan was inherited.

Heaven's inherited. Canaan was rest.

Heaven is eternal rest.

As I have given throughout this series

more charts. I still see some in the

back there. So, I made extra copies. Try

to try to keep up with the Sometimes we

we run out. But, uh, if you'd like if

you if you run out of them, there's no

there's no more that you want to get you

want to get a copy of or have them sent

emailed to you or whatever, let me know

and I'll get them to you. But again,

what a what a massive list that we see

of all the shadows,

all the shadows that Canaan shows us and

the substance that is pointed forward to

heaven.

Because really, let me put all these up

here so you can see them.

Just this small chart of the shadow that

delivered from Egypt, substance

delivered from sin. The shadow journey

through wilderness substance we're

pilgrims through the world. The shadow

is the Jordan crossing. Substance is

death or final transition.

And shadow is earthly rest. And the

substance is eternal rest. Canaan was

the shadow. Heaven is the substance.

Friends, Hebrews 13 and verse14. For

here we have no continuing city,

but we seek the one to come.

What I say at the very beginning of the

lesson, God is still leading his people

somewhere.

I'm asking this morning, are you still

in Egypt, which is representative of

captivity, of sin? Are you wandering in

the wilderness, maybe delaying

obedience, drifting, growing cold?

The promise is still true and the

invitation is still open. And to begin

that journey toward heaven, you say, "I

believe that Jesus Christ is the son of

living God." And if you say, you believe

be like that that Ethiopian unic. Here

is water. What hinders me from being

baptized?

You repent of your sins. You confess

Jesus be the son of God. and you are

baptized, buried with him in baptism to

rise and walk in newness of life. That's

exactly what God's plan of salvation

says.

And you come out of that watery grave to

walk in newness of life. Yep, we're

going to still have temptations. Yep,

we're still going to have trials. We're

still going to have problems.

Yes, we are.

But he's shaping us

because

he doesn't want us to stay the same. He

wants us to grow towards him. And that's

what Canaan what all that teaches us

from the wilderness as well. The Lord

will set our feet on the road that leads

home. What a beautiful, beautiful thing.

The song has been so wonderfully

selected.

Sing to me of heaven.

Is heaven on our minds? I hope it is

because that's the road that we are

traveling towards. It's a beautiful

place that's described in the scriptures

and all the descriptions that's given.

It's very it's that's I I know it's it's

descriptions that we even have a hard

time grasping,

but it's what was given. So, we'd have

some glimpse, some idea of how wonderful

heaven will be. If you have put on the

body of Christ in baptism, you can do

that this morning. All things stand

ready. or a disciple of Christ something

that's a miss in your life again maybe

have become discouraged may you need

prayers on your behalf whatever your

spiritual need won't you come as we

stand and sing the song that's been

selected