The next few chapters of Joshua are the history of how Israel defeated and possessed all of the cities and fortresses in their Promised Land. They were commanded to utterly destroy the inhabitants because they had been given over to forms of idolatry and perversion. If they were not completely destroyed, they would cause Israel to stumble in the future.

As we have discussed, Israel was not just called out of bondage, but into the glorious freedom of God and into a new land of promised prosperity and blessing. Likewise, we are not just called out of this world, or this present evil age, but we are called to the kingdom of God. It, too, is a place of unprecedented prosperity and blessing. However, we must fundamentally keep in mind that the Lord’s kingdom “is not of this world” (see John 18:36). It is a transcendent kingdom far above this realm.

This week we proceed to Ephesians 3:14-16:

Possibly the main reason why so many who claim to be born-again Christians do not have a biblical worldview is because they have fallen prey to what Paul warned about in Colossians 2:8:

The army of God that is mobilizing will carry the most powerful weapon ever carried—the power of God. There is no bomb that has ever been made, even all of the bombs made put together, which have the power contained in a single believer who has the Spirit of God living in them. However, we only see occasional tiny glimpses of this power being demonstrated by believers.This will change as Christians are trained and equipped so that they can be trusted with this power.

As we have discussed, the majority of Christians today are no longer in a vital, living, local church. A primary reason given for this is because they feel that the church is not relevant to their needs; they simply do not feel that much is accomplished by being a part of the local church. Others have been hurt or disappointed by the church and do not want to risk going through that again.

As we continue to look at the historical perspective of eschatology, we are going to condense some crucial events that span over a thousand years into just a few paragraphs. This is not giving the historical perspective, or you, real justice, but the point of this study is our present and future purpose in taking our Promised Land as the church. I am only backing up here a bit to cover this because it is necessary to know where the church has been if we are going to understand in much depth where it is and where it is going.

          “You are the salt of the earth” (see Matthew 5:13).

           “You are the light of the world” (see Matthew 5:14).

          “Occupy until I come” (see Luke 19:13 KJV).

         We are entering the times that the prophets and righteous of old desired to see, and we have been chosen to live in them. In 1987, I was given a two-and-a-half day experience in which I was shown an unfolding panorama of world events that I wrote about in my book The Harvest. Many of these events started coming to pass within a couple of years of the vision, and the greatest of all that I was shown will soon be coming upon us.

         As covered previously, many consider the seven churches of Revelation to be a prophetic outline of church history, and I share that view. Looking back, this is an amazingly accurate outline of church history. It would mean that the last church the Lord addressed, the church at Laodicea, would represent the church at the end of the age. This was the church that the Lord gave His greatest promises to: they would be given their food by Him, and they would sit with Him on His throne.