This morning around 6am I woke up and the Lord put several scriptures in my heart concerning land and place and work. This is kind of an unusual message to me but I trust the Lord is speaking to us through his word today. There are two scriptures that came to my hear from the book of Proverbs regarding the survey points or markings of landmarks:
Proverbs 22:28
28 Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set.
Proverbs 23:10-11
10 Remove not the old landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless:
11 For their redeemer is mighty; he shall plead their cause with thee.
***There is something very powerful and foundational here in these two scriptures and it has to do with the marking of land and the protection of the ownership and control of that marked or designated land. In particular how God gets involved to protect the interest of the fatherless when it comes to this kind of wrongdoing.
Ancient Boundary Stones: In old times, people used stones or markers to show where one person's land ended and another's began. Moving these stones was a sneaky way to steal land.
The Fatherless: This means orphans or vulnerable children who do not have a father or family leader to protect their rights or property.
A Strong Redeemer: God acts as the ultimate defender and champion for the weak. Taking advantage of helpless people brings God’s direct judgment upon the wrongdoer.
***The first point of the Message: God is a defender of the fatherless and the weak.
Psalm 82:1-4
1 God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods.
2 How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked? Selah.
3 Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy.
4 Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked.
Psalm 68:1-5
1 Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered: let them also that hate him flee before him.
2 As smoke is driven away, so drive them away: as wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God.
3 But let the righteous be glad; let them rejoice before God: yea, let them exceedingly rejoice.
4 Sing unto God, sing praises to his name: extol him that rideth upon the heavens by his name Jah, and rejoice before him.
5 A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation.
***The first point of the Message: God is a defender of the fatherless and the weak.
**The 2nd point of the Message: God recognizes the ownership and stewardship of the earth as a blessing to man.
**What the Lord was impressing on my spirit this morning is that God protects and defends individual’s rights to the earth that he created.
**This reminded me about something I learned in school about the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock.
The Pilgrims were Puritan Separatists who left England and sailed on the Mayflower in 1620 to practice strict, Bible-based Calvinist worship free from government control. Their faith guided every part of their daily lives, community laws, and decision to build a new society in Plymouth.
Plymouth Colony was founded in 1620, the Pilgrims and their financial backers used a communal system where land was farmed collectively and crops went into a shared storehouse. This plan caused severe food shortages, resentment, and low productivity until Governor William Bradford assigned private land plots to families in 1623.
Why the Communal System Failed
- No personal reward: Hard workers and lazy workers received the same equal food rations.
- Deep resentment: Strong workers hated working for other people's families without extra pay.
- Low effort: People pretended they were too sick or weak to work in the shared fields.
- Constant hunger: The community faced ongoing food shortages and near-starvation for three straight years.
The Switch to Private Property
- Individual plots: In 1623, Governor William Bradford gave a private parcel of land to each household for corn farming.
- Immediate success: People became very active and hardworking because they kept the food they grew.
- End of famine: The harvest improved greatly, and the colony finally produced plenty of food.
***This reminds me of the words of Paul to the Thessalonians at the end of his 2nd letter to them.
2 Thessalonians 3:6-16
New Living Translation
An Exhortation to Proper Living
6 And now, dear brothers and sisters, we give you this command in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ: Stay away from all believers[a] who live idle lives and don’t follow the tradition they received[b] from us. 7 For you know that you ought to imitate us. We were not idle when we were with you. 8 We never accepted food from anyone without paying for it. We worked hard day and night so we would not be a burden to any of you. 9 We certainly had the right to ask you to feed us, but we wanted to give you an example to follow. 10 Even while we were with you, we gave you this command: “Those unwilling to work will not get to eat.”
11 Yet we hear that some of you are living idle lives, refusing to work and meddling in other people’s business. 12 We command such people and urge them in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and work to earn their own living. 13 As for the rest of you, dear brothers and sisters, never get tired of doing good.
14 Take note of those who refuse to obey what we say in this letter. Stay away from them so they will be ashamed. 15 Don’t think of them as enemies, but warn them as you would a brother or sister.[c]
Paul’s Final Greetings
16 Now may the Lord of peace himself give you his peace at all times and in every situation. The Lord be with you all.
***The first point of the Message: God is a defender of the fatherless and the weak.
**The 2nd point of the Message: God recognizes the ownership and stewardship of the earth as a blessing to man.
***The 3rd point of the Message: It is scriptural to work hard and be rewarded for your work.
When Jesus sent his disciples out 2 by 2 to minister he told the disciples that a laborer is worthy of his hire.
Luke 10:7
7 And in the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give: for the labourer is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house.
**We work for the Lord in Ministry and it is labor but it has reward:
1 Corinthians 3:6-9
6 I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.
7 So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.
8 Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.
9 For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building.
***The 4th point of the Message: God cares about you and is making a place for you.
***The next passage of scripture the Lord brought to my heart is from Hebrews chapter 11 that describes a summation of Abraham’s life being called by God out of his homeland, away from his family to see the promise land that God would give to his family for an inheritance.
Hebrews 11:8-10
8 By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.
9 By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise:
10 For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
***Before we move on can I ask you this question? What are you looking for? What are you working for? Abraham was looking for a City but not just any City. Abraham was looking for The City.
***In the modern western civilizations today there is less focus on the need for landownership and individual/civil rights but that has not always been the case. Thousands of years the dividing line between Rich and Poor was if you owned land. Your ability to vote or have any say in the way you were governed was if you owned land or not.
Land was looked at for its natural resources that could be extracted and used by the people who controlled it.
When we go back to the beginning of the story we find that God has always wanted to provide a place for mankind.
Genesis 2
1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
4 These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens,
5 And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.
6 But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.
7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
8 And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.
9 And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
10 And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.
11 The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;
12 And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.
13 And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia.
14 And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates.
15 And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
***The first point of the Message: God is a defender of the fatherless and the weak.
**The 2nd point of the Message: God recognizes the ownership and stewardship of the earth as a blessing to man.
***The 3rd point of the Message: It is scriptural to work hard and be rewarded for your work.
***The 4th point of the Message: God cares about you and is making a place for you.
Matthew 13:52
52 Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old.
***I want to be a good scribe. So far in the message I have spoken to you this morning of things old. Now I want to speak to you of things new.
My friends God cares about you right now and he is making a place and provision for you right now.
Matthew 10:28-31
28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
29 Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.
30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
31 Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.
Matthew 6:25-33
25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
***In Closing I want you to turn with me in your bibles to John 14 that we are going to talk about something new. Remember in Genesis Chapter 2 we read earlier that God made a garden for man and placed man in the garden to keep it. Now we read that God is making a place for me and for you. It is an individual place in the City at Abraham spent his whole life looking for. The City.
Listen to the words of Jesus in John 14
John 14:1-3
1 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
2 In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
Revelation 21
1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
5 And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.
6 And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.
7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.
8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
9 And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb's wife.
10 And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,
11 Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal;
12 And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel:
13 On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates.
14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
15 And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof.
16 And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal.
17 And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel.
18 And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass.
19 And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald;
20 The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolyte; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst.
21 And the twelve gates were twelve pearls: every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.
22 And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.
23 And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.
24 And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it.
25 And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there.
26 And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it.
27 And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life.