The children of Israel were wanderers.
Forty years they tread the sands of the desert wilderness, waiting on Adonai to lead them step by step, camp by camp, from one type of glory to the next.
In this week’s Torah portion, Masa’ei, the children of Israel prepare to step into the next phase of glory prepared for them; that of crossing over into the Promised Land.
The crossing over that they were instructed to do in Numbers 33 held more than just a physical significance.
Even the name of the river they were about to cross over, the Jordan/יַּרְדֵּ֖ן shows us a profound spiritual parallel through the Hebrew pictographs:
יַּ-Hand
רְ-People
דֵּ֖-Door
ן-Life
When they reached the Jordan River in order to cross over over it, it was as if the HANDS of the PEOPLE were opening the DOOR to a new LIFE prepared for them by Adonai.
And it’s true, they were crossing over into new life in many ways.
They were crossing over from the desert wilderness into a land flowing with milk and honey;
From living as a nation of slaves to a nation of freemen;
From being sojourners to being a people settled and firmly established;
And from being the tail, to being the head.
There was one catch…
The land they were entering, needed to be purged.
Numbers 33:51-53 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you cross the Jordan into Canaan, drive out all the inhabitants of the land before you. Destroy all their carved images and their cast idols, and demolish all their high places. Take possession of the land and settle in it, for I have given you the land to possess.”
You see, the land was currently being used for all sorts of wicked practices… practices of depravity that entrapped and cursed the people involved. In order to cross over into the new life and victories Adonai had prepared for them, He needed to ensure that they would not fall into the same type of entrapment.
And the same goes for us…
If you believe in Messiah Yeshua, you have been called to cross over into a new life too;
You’ve been called to cross over from death to life (John 5:24);
From darkness to light (1 Peter 2:9);
From being foreigners to family (Ephesians 2:19);
From being slaves to sin to being slaves of God (Romans 6:22).
And if He’s called us us to cross over, we’ve got to rise up and purge the land!
Adonai doesn’t want to have you cross over into something that looks and operates in the same depraved way it used to. This is why the New Testament says
“Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.”- Colossians 3:5
This sounds like the spiritual counterpart to the command in Numbers 33:51-53.
The things that used to be tolerated in the land… the things that used to be tolerated within yourself and your life must be metaphorically purged and “put to death” in order to move forward with Adonai and experience the victory and abundance He has prepared for you on the other side; in your land of promise.
Today, we lift up all hearts that feel the need for this type of purging.
Whatever has been taking up residence in you from your old nature, whether fear or anxiety, addiction, lust, sickness, unbelief… anything; we pray that these things be completely purged in the name of Yeshua, b’shem Yeshua haMashiach.
And we pray that you will move forward with Adonai and the Armies of Heaven to take the land and experience victory in all the spiritual and physical battles set before you today!
Shavua tov, beloved of God❤️
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