In this message on the prearrangement of the distribution of the good land, we will consider the statutes for inheriting the good land (33:50-56) and the boundaries of the good land and its distributors (34:1-29).
These statutes were given to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho (33:50), a land that has been the scene of much trouble. Even today, the land east of the Jordan is a land of troubles.
Jehovah commanded Moses to say to the people, "When you pass over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their figured stones, and destroy all their molten images, and demolish all their high places; and you shall take possession of the land and settle in it, for I have given the land to you to possess it" (vv. 51-53). These verses reveal that, after driving out the devilish inhabitants of the land, they were to destroy all the idols and high places, the places where the idols were worshipped. Only then would they be qualified to take possession of the land and enjoy it.
The principle is the same concerning our enjoyment of Christ today. Christ has been given to us as our portion for our enjoyment, yet there is a condition which we must fulfill in order to have this enjoyment. This condition is that we cooperate with God's ordination to drive out everything in us which is other than God and Christ. This means that we must destroy all the idols within us. An idol is anything other than God that occupies us. A degree, a good job, a nice house, a position or rank, a good name—all these can become idols occupying us. We must destroy any idols that may be in us and not leave any ground within us for the worship of idols. Without dealing with the idols in us, we cannot have the genuine enjoyment of Christ.
Some may talk about the enjoyment of Christ, but for them this is merely a slogan. Whether or not we can have the real enjoyment of Christ depends upon the extent to which there is a clearance of our inner being. Today Christ as the good land is in us, but the enjoyment of this good land requires an absolute clearance of anything other than God that occupies us. To give even a little ground to the worship of something other than God will annul our enjoyment of Christ. May we all have a thorough clearing away of every kind of idol so that we can enjoy Christ as the good land.