CALEB’S REWARD
-JOSHUA
14:5-14.-OCTOBER 27-
Golden Text:-“He wholly followed the Lord God of Israel.”-Joshua 14:14.
IN all the promises to the faithful prior to the Gospel Age there were no intimations
of spiritual things,-of the high calling to joint-heirship with Christ, of the
privilege of being transformed New Creatures, partakers of the divine nature,
etc. Thus, for instance, Caleb wholly followed the Lord God of Israel and
received as his reward a choice portion of the land of Canaan.
We observe also many similar promises made to Israel as a nation
conditioned on their obedience to God and their faith and loyalty:-They should
eat the good of the land; their days should be long upon the land which the
Lord gave them; their enemies should not triumph over them; they should be
blessed in basket and in store, etc., etc. These were the immediate temporal
rewards of earthly things promised to the obedient. But the promises to be
realized to them even beyond the grave were also of an earthly kind. To
Abraham God said, “Lift up now thine eyes and look from the place where thou
art, northward and southward and eastward and westward; for all the land
which thou seest, to thee will I give it and to thy seed forever.” And
Stephen and Paul, referring to this earthly promise to Abraham and to his seed
according to the flesh, remind us that this promise was never fulfilled to
Abraham in his past life (nor has it yet been fulfilled to his posterity-“for an
everlasting possession”); but that he died in faith believing that when he
should be awakened from death in due time the promise would be verified.-Acts
7:5; Heb. 11:8-10.
These observations suggest several important questions. (1) May the
Christian expect the temporal rewards of earthly prosperity as a present reward
of faithfulness to God? (2) Shall the Spiritual Seed of Abraham share the
earthly inheritance with the Fleshly Seed? or (3), vice versa, If the higher
promises were made to the Spiritual Seed, the Gospel Church, can they apply
also to the Fleshly Seed?
Considering the second question first, we answer, No; for the saints of
the Gospel Age are to be changed from the human to the spiritual, divine
nature. They are to be made like unto Christ’s glorious body, who is now “the
express image of the Father”-“the King immortal, invisible and dwelling
in light which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen nor can see”;
and with Christ they are to inherit all things. (I Cor. 15:51-53; Phil. 3:21; 2
Pet. 1:4; Phil. 1:5; I Tim. 1:17; 6:16; Rev. 21:7; Rom. 8:17.) While the
Fleshly Seed of Abraham will rejoice to sit, each man, under his own vine and
fig tree with none to molest or make them afraid (Micah 4:4), the Spiritual
Seed will be reigning with Christ in glory, and from their exalted position
will be able to bless all the families of the earth; and not only so, but even
to judge angels.- Gen. 28:14; Gal. 3:16,29; I Cor. 6:3.
Nor can the Fleshly Seed of Abraham, even the most worthy and faithful
prophets and martyrs, inherit the “exceeding great and precious
promises,” which belong to a subsequent dispensation of divine favor; for it is
written that “flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God,”-the spiritual
plane of that Kingdom being here referred to,-though they will inherit its
earthly phase, as it is written: “Ye [unfaithful Jews] shall see Abraham
and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the Kingdom of God [the earthly
phase], and ye yourselves thrust out.” (Luke 13:28.) These two phases of the
Kingdom will be in communication and cooperation during the Millennium-the one,
the higher, spiritual and invisible, and the other, perfect, human and visible
among men. Thus it is written, “Out of Zion [the spiritual phase] shall go
forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem [the human, visible
phase].” (Isa. 2:3.) And while the promise to Abraham, “In thee and in thy
Seed [‘which Seed,’ says Paul, ‘is Christ’-Head and Body] shall all the
families of the earth be blessed,” shall be fulfilled in the Spiritual Seed
primarily, yet the exalted earthly phase of the Kingdom is to be the blessed
channel or agency through which the blessing shall flow to all the kindreds of
the earth. And thus, as the Apostle declares, the promise of God-“In thee and
in thy Seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed”-shall be sure to
all the seed; not to that only which is of the law (the Fleshly Seed), but to
that also which is of the faith of Abraham. And if ye be Christ’s then are ye
Abraham’s Seed and heirs according to the promise.-Rom. 4:16; Gal. 3:16,29.
This calls to mind the two phases of the Kingdom of God as presented in
MILLENNIAL DAWN, Vol. I., Chap. XIV., and the separate and distinct inheritance
and office of each. We are also reminded of the Lord’s teaching that not all
the natural descendants of Abraham are to be heirs with him of the promise, but
only such as Abraham would be honored in owning as sons-such as partake of his
spirit or disposition.-See John 8:39,44.
While to the Natural Seed of Abraham is promised all the land which
Abraham saw, and the privilege of dwelling in it in safety, and while the
inheritors of the earthly phase of the Kingdom are to be princes in all the
earth (Psa. 45:16), to the Spiritual Seed of Abraham, which Seed is Christ-Head
and Body-are given the “exceeding great and precious promises.”-2 Pet. 1:4.
This brings us to the consideration of our first inquiry, May the
Christian expect the rewards of earthly prosperity for his faithfulness to God,
either in the present life, or in that which is to come?
We have already shown that Christians, members of the Body of Christ, have
beyond this life “an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not
away, reserved in heaven” for them (I Pet. 1:4); consequently the earthly
inheritance of human perfection and a peaceful home, each under his own vine
and fig tree, could not confine to earth the immortal spirit beings, partakers
of the divine nature, the scope of whose powers must necessarily extend to the
utmost bounds of creation.
Nor can the rewards of present temporal prosperity in worldly things be
expected by those who are running for the prize of this high calling to glory,
honor and immortality as kings and priests unto God; for the way to the crown
is the way of the cross, the way of sacrifice, as well to every member of the
Body of Christ as it was to our Head and Lord, Christ Jesus. He was “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief”; the
reproaches of them that reproached God fell upon him; though he was rich, for
our sakes he became poor; so poor that he said, “The foxes have holes, and the
birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay his
head.” There was no reward of earthly
prosperity for the Lord’s faithfulness, but the reverse-privation and
persecution were realized, even unto death. And
the servant is not above his Lord: if they have persecuted him they will
persecute us also; and the reproaches of them that reproached him will also
fall upon us. The only present reward for which the followers of Christ may
look is the heartfelt manifestation of the Lord’s love and approval.
“In the world,” said he, “ye shall have tribulation, but in me ye shall have
peace.”
It should be observed also that while rewards of temporal prosperity were
promised and given to Fleshly Israel as a nation and as individuals, yet the
very cream of that nation, the faithful patriarchs and prophets received no
such temporal rewards, but like the Gospel Church, they endured hardness as
good soldiers and nobly fought the good fight of faith; and their abundant
reward will be in the glory of the earthly phase of the Kingdom of God. Note
the account of their faithful endurance as recorded by Paul in Heb. 11.
The temporal rewards and punishments and general discipline of Fleshly
Israel were typical of the Lord’s similar discipline of the world in the age to
come; while his selection out from among that people of a worthy class of
overcomers for the earthly phase of the Kingdom was typical of his selection
during the Gospel Age of a class of overcomers for the spiritual phase of the
Kingdom. In any case, it pays to wholly follow the Lord God of Israel, who is
a rewarder of all them that diligently seek him to walk in his ways.- Heb.
11:6; Prov. 8:32-36.