Episode Transcript
In Genesis 3, the sin of humankind led to the death of people and the curse upon the ground. After the Great Flood, God made a two-fold promise. 1) Never would destroy every living think like He did in the flood. Now, He has chosen a people through whom to teach the world His peace and justice by His Spirit. He is fulfilling His promise. One day after this, all the nations will be grafted in like we saw when we looked at Egypt. There was a second part of that promise. 2) Never again would God curse the ground. He is not only saving humanity from death. He is saving the whole earth, the whole world. So, He brings the people He has chosen to a land He has chosen. Never will He kill humanity again. Never will He curse the ground again. Instead, He is bringing blessing to both, which seems to be set to overtake the whole world—if the land follows the same pattern as the people. Israel comes to Canaan after forty years of wandering. They are ready to enter.
Now it came about after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, that the Lord spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ servant, saying, “Moses My servant is dead; now therefore arise, cross this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them, to the sons of Israel. Every place on which the sole of your foot treads, I have given it to you, just as I spoke to Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon, even as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and as far as the Great Sea toward the setting of the sun will be your territory. No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you. Be strong and courageous, for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:1-9).
God instructs Joshua to lead Israel into the promised land. He promises not to fail or forsake Joshua or Israel, a pleasant reminder of His promise to strive with humanity after the flood—never again withdrawing His Spirit. Joshua is to be strong and courageous. God’s plan is to give Israel a possession, the land of Canaan. God instructs Israel to keep His Law, not departing from it but meditating on it day and night. Why? It was not so Israel might become righteous or gain eternal life. They are to be careful to do all that is in the Law so that they will have success and prosper wherever they go. There is a promise of prosperity in the Bible…
We expend much energy today arguing against what we refer to as the “Prosperity” or “Health and Wealth” gospel. We place such a heading on what can be referred to as the charismatic movement, at least the doctrinal side of the charismatic movement. I am oversimplifying, but the basic teaching of this branch of theology asserts that if we obey God, we will individually be healthy and wealthy. Popular teachers use this teaching in order to get people to give lots of money to them while hoping that they will receive a much higher financial return. When people go broke or become unhealthy, it is simply said that they must not have enough faith or must have some hidden sin.
Let’s look at God’s actual promise of prosperity for Israel. As always, context is key. Consider the entirety of the story. After people sinned in Genesis 3, God said that the ground was cursed because of Adam’s sin and that it would produce thorns and thistles. In Genesis 8, God promised He would never again curse the ground on account of human sin. In Joshua 1, God goes one step further and actually promises prosperity to His people in a land they will possess. Here, the promise is directed at Joshua, but the promise really is for all of Israel (cf. Deuteronomy 8:18; 15:10; 28:1-14; 1 Kings 2:3; 2 Chronicles 20:20; Psalm 1; 128:2; Proverbs 3:9-10; 22:4; Job 36:11; Isaiah 48:17; Jeremiah 29:11; Malachi 3:10). Instead of producing thorns and thistles like it did under the curse, the land would now be productive. The people of God would prosper in the land. God is taking another step toward the redemption of no only humanity, but the whole of the earth. Not only will He never again curse the ground on account of human sin, He is actually teaching people how to rid the ground of the curse through His Law.
Notice, He tells Israel to keep His Law. This is how the earth will be made new. People will treat the ground well—and there are many laws about treating the ground well from the observance of Sabbath years to the instructions about leaving things in the ground that are not needed (cf. Genesis 2:15; Exodus 23:1-11; Leviticus 25:3-5; Numbers 35:33 Deuteronomy 20:19). God is interested in teaching Israel how to make the land all it can be without using up all the resources or killing it, effectively reintroducing the curse—which is what Canaan was doing.
If the people followed God’s Law, the land would produce far more abundantly than they could imagine. Israel would prosper instead of living in a land where the ground is cursed. God is fulfilling His promise. We see this trajectory in the story, and we see where it is going. Eventually, there will be no more effects remaining of the curse from Genesis 3. God will rid the world of all it ill effects. The earth will be perfect, and everyone on it will experience the earth’s prosperity.
Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him; they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads (Revelation 22:1-4).
In Joshua, we see God at the beginning stages of removing the effects of the curse from the ground. The end result will be a new world that yields great produce and heals the nations. I know John’s Revelation is highly symbolic, so let’s pay attention to the latter half of the passage that clearly states, “There will no longer be any curse.” God will be with His people in Christ (the Lamb), and the curse will be completely gone from the land. The nations will be completely healed. This story is about God saving people. It is also about Him saving His earth, His creation, from the onslaught of human sin and its effects on the earth.
Biblical prosperity, it turns out, is not about us putting money in a proverbial slot machine and expecting to win health and wealth. Instead, it is about the healing of the land such that people can flourish in the land with good work ethic. The nations can be healed. So, we we love the Law of God, applying His precepts to the way we live, the land around us is healed as a result. When nations follow the ways of God, the people flourish because they prosper wherever they go. It is good to love the Law of the Lord and, in our day, to actually have it written on our hearts (cf. Romans 2:15; 2 Corinthians 3:3; Hebrews 8:10). Indeed through Abraham all the families of the earth will be blessed.
