WHICH SIDE OF THE JORDAN?

Numbers 32

v5: 'If we have found favour in your eyes," they said, "let this land be given to your servants as our possession. Do not make us cross the Jordan."

v19: We will not receive any inheritance with them on the other side of the Jordan, because our inheritance has come to us on the east side of the Jordan.

v20: Then Moses said to them, "If you will do this- if you will arm yourselves before the LORD for battle, and if all of you will go armed over the Jordan before the LORD until he has driven his enemies out before him- then when the land is subdued before the LORD, you may return and be free from your obligation to the LORD and to Israel. And this land will be your possession before the LORD.


The chapter of the Bible that this verse comes from is simply extraordinary. It is one of the only times in the Word of God (that I can think of anyway), that we see that it is actually ALLOWED by God to not enter the fullness and perfection of what He has for our lives (in terms of worship, service and how we live), and it still be ok with Him and it still be ok for us. For you see, it is possible to live so CLOSE to the fullness of what God has for us, and yet still not live according to it, that we miss the full fruit of that place. Before I go on though, let me give some context to what was going on in this passage, before I spell out exactly what it reveals.

At the start of their journey, God had miraculously brought Israel out of Egypt, and into a wilderness journey, destination- the Promised Land. Through many trials and failings on Israel's part, God finally brought them to the Land. However, the couldn't enter in because of their fear and their unbelief, God wouldn't allow it. Fast-forward 40 years, and the whole adult generation of Israel that refused to enter the Promised Land had died off, and the younger generation now faced the same decision. Most of Israel wanted to, this time, be obedient, and enter the land, however, two tribes didn't. The Reubenites and Gadites (v1), because of their large herds and flocks (how hard it is for the rich man to enter in to the fullness of the Promised Land!), didn't want to go over the Jordan into the Promised Land, but wanted to stay and live on the other side of it, because it seemed most suitable to all their possessions, and to the wellbeing of those things! On one side of the Jordan was God's perfect will for the Israelites, and on the other side was his ALLOWED will, which the Reubenites and Gadites negotiated for because of what they could keep in terms of this world and their possessions! How tragic!

Make no mistake about it though, what these two tribes sought to do in this regard was extremely close to fully rejecting God. And Moses upbraided them for it, firstly by reciting the fact that Israel had basically done the same thing in the past already, and suffered for it (v8-13), and then going on to say what he thought of what they wanted to do:

v14-15: "And here you are, a brood of sinners, standing in the place of your fathers and making the LORD even more angry with Israel. If you turn away from following him, he will again leave all this people in the desert, and you will be the cause of their destructions."

There was an important difference however, in what these two tribes wanted to do in terms of obedience. They didn't want to reject God, or turn away from Him, but it's clear that they did value their lives and their possessions in such a way that revealed where their heart was really at (selfish, and self-centred). It revealed that they wanted to live as close to the world and its desires as they could, without actually having it turn into a disobedience and turning away from God. What made it acceptable to God (in the main), was that they were still willing to 'fight the good fight of faith', that is, they told Moses that because God wanted all of Israel to fight for the Promised Land, they would contribute all of their adult men to fighting alongside Israel. Once the fighting and conquering of the land had been completed, they would then return to the other side of the Jordan, where their wives and children would be waiting for them. As Christians, no matter what side of the Jordan we decide to live on, if we always want to go on with God, we will always have to fight spiritual battles by the grace and power of the Lord. There is no getting around that. However, while Israel had to fight battle after battle in the Promised Land (in order to keep conquering its territories), we never here of other battles the other two tribes faced after that. And this does make sense, after all, if we choose to live closer to the word, and to value what it values (more than we should, then its obvious that there will be less persecution we face, and the world will hate us less than those that are living smack bang in the centre of the Promised Land, and the perfect will of God for our lives. We will also be less of a threat to the enemy, and so it is highly likely that he will leave us alone a lot more than those that are actually standing up for the Kingdom of God.

And so, we as Christians often always face the same dilemma that Israel and its tribes did- which side of the Jordan shall we live on? Shall we lay down our lives wholly for God, or shall we live as close to the world as possible; valuing what it values much more than we should? Shall we determine, as much as we can, what we think is best for us and our lives and so negotiate with God for that very thing? Or shall we have faith to believe that the Land God has promised for us is exceedingly abundantly above all that we could ask or imagine?  And shall we desire a mostly battle-less life because of our spiritual compromise and our love to keep our own lives and to keep the love of the world, or shall we 'fight the good fight of faith,' and the many battles that entails, in order to claim all the fruit of the life of grace that Jesus has already purchased for us, and told us that we have been given? (just like the Israelites were told by God that the Land they were about to fight for had already been given to them!). The Promised Land is a land that holds so much bounty spiritually, and so much care practically, that no other land compares, no matter the seeming beneficial 'trade-offs', which are really just superficial and a tragic coming 'so-close' to what God really wanted for His people.

Yes, the Gadites and Reubenites gained what they wanted in the end, but did they really? After all was said and done, I wonder whether, at some time or another in their lives, each one of those men, women and children looked over the Jordan into Canaan and remembered all that Moses had spoken about in regards to the greatness and glory of the promise that God had given, and I wonder whether they all realised what they had really traded it all away for. They had decided to not share in the greatness or the victory of their God, and to give up what Moses himself had pleaded God for, even until the very end of his days (Duet 3v23). They never enjoyed those things that God enjoyed, never were fully committed to God's passion, and so never again experienced the triumphs and glories God had in store for them. And yet, at any time they could've made the decision to leave and join God's people in that land! I wonder how many ever did..

But this is really a great encouragement and opportunity for all of us. Today, we can decide to take advantage of this Land of Promise that has already been given to us, and lay our lives down for His sake. In doing so, we gain them back in the most fruitful and blessed way possible. This doesn't mean we won't have battles or that we won't be persecuted, and it doesn't mean life will suddenly become easy. It also doesn't mean we won't still be sinners saved by grace! Even the Apostle Paul called himself the chief of sinners at the time that God was using him so mightily! So we won't become perfected just yet! But it does mean that God's grace will be with us, and that He will direct our lives, our worship and our service for Him. God will make sure that our lives now, will count as much as possible for the life to come, and it will mean that we'll always have purposeful and productive lives in and for Christ's sake! It will also mean that we will know Christ and the power of His resurrection, and that we will be changed by Him in the exact way He always purposed.