waiting for 600 years
"Since I am about to be taken to my kindred, bury me with my fathers in the cave that lies in the field...Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite for a burial ground. There Abraham and his wife Sarah are buried, and so are Isaac and his wife Rebekah, and there, too, I buried Leah." —Genesis 49:29-31
Abraham waited about fifty years to enter the promised land. He got there "over the dead body" of his wife, as he bought a field in the promised land for her burial (see Gn 23:4ff). He was buried there too. At his death, he barely had a foothold in the promised land. He probably expected more.
Isaac and Jacob must have expected to take over more of the promised land. But they did no better than Abraham. Even Joseph, Moses, and Aaron did not enter the promised land. The chosen people waited for about six hundred years for Joshua to lead them into the promised land.
In the new covenant, we have Jesus, Jeshuah, the new Joshua, Who has given us eternal life, which is so much better than the promised land. The waiting is over. The Messiah has come! He has saved us, and we have become sharers in the divine nature (2 Pt 1:4) and children of God. We literally have God within us, and we are also in Him (Jn 17:23). We can even receive the body and blood, the soul and divinity of Jesus. We have received much more than anyone can ever ask for or imagine (Eph 3:20). Because of the astounding graces of our being in Christ, we are greater than Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Aaron, and all those before Jesus (Mt 11:11). Let us be eternally grateful to Jesus.
Prayer: Father, in thanksgiving may I tell everyone the good news of life in Jesus.
Promise: "Whoever acknowledges Me before men I will acknowledge before My Father in heaven. Whoever disowns Me before men I will disown before My Father in heaven." —Mt 10:32-33
Praise: Studying Scripture and the lives of the saints has kept Charles spiritually alive.
Nihil Obstat: Reverend Ralph J. Lawrence, December 29, 2002
Imprimatur: †Most Reverend Carl K. Moeddel, Vicar General and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, December 31, 2002