I remember a cigarette ad that ran from 1963-81 for Tareyton. It featured twins with matching black eyes. The slogan was “Us Tareyton smokers would rather fight than switch.”

Now just to be clear, I have read the back of the book. We win. Victory is assured. The Word is true. When Jesus Christ died on the cross and rose again, victory was accomplished. Death was defeated. And all the Scripture will take place just as it is written. Yet full delivery of this victory has not been realized. But by and through His grace, and His grace alone, we will see it. I cannot add to it and I can do nothing to earn it. In Christ alone lies my hope, my life. No power of hell, no scheme of man can ever pluck me from His hand. Til He returns or calls me home, here in the power of Christ I stand. He has seated me with Him in heavenly places (Ephesians one).

But between the time He calls me home, I live a life on earth. And here I must walk. There is a life to have and enjoy, and a to be entered into and possessed.

Paul, writing to the Corinthians in 1.10 says the experiences of Israel in the Old Testament serve as an example for us. So we can see ourselves in Genesis, in Exodus, in Numbers and throughout the OT. It should be clear to us that our passage out of sin through the blood of Christ parallels the miraculous deliverance of Israel out of Egyptian bondage. Israel was baptized in the sea as they passed through and this parallels our water baptism. Then they were baptized in the cloud and we are baptized in the Holy Spirit. They were given supernatural manna, we have the Bread of Life.

The Promised Land, known as Canaan, that lay beyond the Jordan River, was the destination for Israel. Tragically, they wandered 40 years before ever reaching it. It was the land God promised to Abraham in Genesis 13, and reaffirmed to him and then to Isaac and then to Jacob all through Genesis.

God’s intention, God’s perfect will, has always been for His people to possess the land. Not just a few, not the “super-Christians”, but every believer. His desire id for every child of God to enjoy the riches of Canaan, a land, as the Bible says, overflows with milk and honey. With vineyards they (we) did not plant, with flocks we did raise, with fields we did not plant. To enjoy the goodness of God, yes, the riches of God in Christ Jesus.

And where is this land today? “And I heard a loud voice saying, “behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He shall dwell among them and they shall be His people.” (Revelation 21.3) And in verse 9 we are called the Bride of the Lamb. And one day this bride will rise to meet Him in the air, and as my brother Tim Bryant once wrote, “He ain’t coming for no ugly woman!” She will be perfect, without spot or blemish. Well I must tell you that as far as I am concerned, there is work to be done and it will NOT be a work of Revlon or Old Spice. I must continue my ride on the potter’s wheel until he has perfected me.

Canaan lies within. Wherever we go, we carry the land, for it represents all our provision in Christ: salvation, deliverance, healing, righteousness, justification, sanctification – all the abundant life provided in Jesus Christ. And the NORMAL Christian life is a life living this provision. But many among us have become satisfied with AVERAGE Christianity – church membership, occasional attendance, being nice to the preacher when he visits once a year. This was never God’s intention. Average Christianity gets you spewed out of His mouth! God says I wish you were hot or cold! (Rev.3.16) God has established a normal pattern, a normal experience for all His saints and that is to enter the land and have that land so worked into us that it becomes inseparable from us. Those who choose to live outside the land choose to reject the dwelling and life that He Himself died for and obtained for, and now freely gives to us.

All their lives all the tribes of Israel had heard about the land – the land – the land. From Abraham forward. The promise of God. And now, after 40 years of desert wandering, moving camp, manna eating, following the cloud and fire. After 40 years of seeing first hand the miracles of God, yet rebelling so often, finally Israel stood at the doorstep of Canaan.

I direct you to Numbers 31 and verses 1-19. Please read before going further here.

The tribes of Reuben and Gad had accumulated much livestock as they had wandered with their brother tribes. And now, as they passed through Jazer and Gilead, adjacent to Canaan, they saw a suitable place to settle. They approach Moses, seeking permission to remain there, rejecting the Promised Land. Just over Jordan lie Canaan, but they said, “Do not take us across the Jordan.”

“Shall your brothers go to war while you yourselves sit here?” What a question. And it is one I must ask myself.

Yes, it was the Promised Land which God Himself had chosen, and given to His people. It was the sanctuary, the mountain of God’s inheritance in which He would plant His people. But it was going to take WAR to drive out the inhabitants, the 7 nations of Canaan. They were not just going to lay down. Jesus said in Matthew 11.12, “the kingdom of heaven suffers violence and violent men take it by force.”

The boo of Joshua is a bloody book. A history of military conquest. A book of ruthless warfare. But at the end of Joshua, we hear again these words, “I gave you a land on which you had not labored and cities which you had not built, and you have lived in them and you are eating of vineyards and oliveyards which you did not plant – CHOOSE today whom you will serve!” And Joshua dismissed them each to their own inheritance.

And so it is with this earthen vessel. Friday, September 29, was my 50th birthday in Christ and there is still battles being waged in me. The land which Satan possessed prior to my conversion – he still thinks it belongs to him and he contends for areas of it daily. I have to be vigilant every day for indeed there is a roaring lion prowling about, seeking whom he may devour. I must resist and violently so. Satan is out to steal, kill and destroy. If we do not stand in ongoing diligence, he will sneak back into the land that the blood of Jesus bought and paid for – for me. So I am going to FIGHT! The power of Holy Spirit is in me to resist, to overcome and to conquer.

But you do know that it is easier to SWITCH! To settle in Jazer and Gilead where it is comfortable. Where no one is bothering you. It is so peaceful there. Let others do the fighting. It is so much easier to watch a workout video than it is to get your own body moving. Why sweat when you do not have to? Isn’t it easier to get a “little dab will do you” religion – just enough to get you by. That way, the devil leaves you alone. Yes, that is just where he wants you. Lukewarm. Passive. Isn’t it easier to let someone else do the praying, do the witnessing, do the giving? Isn’t it easier to read about battles rather than risking your life engaging in one?

I can switch, or I can fight. And you know, God will let you switch! He will let you settle in Jazer like Reuben and Gad. He will let you choose the path of least resistance.

It is like a game show where you answer a question and you win $500. Now, you can risk this $500 and win $5 million, if you get the next question right. Answer incorrectly, and you lose your $500.

Reuben and Gad had $500. But in this case, there was no risk. They kept the $500, but $5 million awaited them. Guaranteed. Promised. Promised by God Himself.

You can Switch. You can settle for the good and stiff-arm the best. You can be born again, have your name written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, but miss the life that God has so LAVISHLY provided for you. Lavishly – abundantly, overflowing, a deluge! A trickle from your kitchen faucet or a gushing like Niagara Falls!

You can stay in Gilead where Jesus is your Savior, but He is Lord of Canaan!

Gad and Reuben had come out of Egypt the same way their brother tribes had, through the shedding of blood on the doorposts (born again). They had passed through the sea like all the others (water baptized) and they had passed under and through the cloud in the wilderness like all of Israel (Holy Spirit baptized), yet they said, “DO NOT TAKE US ACROSS THE JORDAN!” And you thought being “charismatic” was the answer to all your problems!

You can experience the exhilaration of new birth. You can fully understand water baptism and be fully immersed in the Tuckaseegee. You can know the Holy Spirit and have all the might gifts. You can experience years of miraculous provision and STILL choose not to go in!

Will I sit here while my brothers go to war? Will I switch rather than fight?

It is the hour to awaken from slumber. It is time to heed the words of Proverbs 6.10-11, “A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and your poverty will come in like a vagabond and your need like an armed man.”

To be fair, Reuben and Gad did eventually contribute fighting men to the war effort in Canaan. They did assist in clearing out the land. But they remained outside.

Time passes. Times change. People change. But God does not. And, neither does He forget. For 700 years, Reuben and Gad live peacefully, just east of the Dead Sea, in present day Jordan. But the day of judgement finally arrives.

1 Chronicles 5 gives the details. Despite the fact that Reuben and Gad contributed to the conquest of Canaan, eventually they act treacherously against God by adopting idols and worshipping them, and in v.26 we see that God Himself stirred up the kings of Assyria and Reuben and Gad were taken into captivity, and the slavery of Babylonian bondage.

Choose to switch, and stay outside of God’s provision, and when bondage comes, you will be the first to be taken.

As for me, I have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back. Though none go with me, still I will follow. I will fight. Through the power of Holy Spirit within me, this land is worth contending for. So, brethren, will you stay here while your brothers go to war? It may result in a black eye or two, but realizing all that Jesus has so abundantly provided for each child of the King makes it all worthwhile.