Joseph Prince - This Will Change How You Read the Bible
I want to share with you about the parallels of the land of Israel, the land of God, and the book of God, the Bible. The land and the book. Are you ready? The land of Israel and the book of God, and you see the parallels. Let’s look at Deuteronomy chapter 8 right now. It says, «For the Lord thy God brings you into a good land». Say, «A good land». By the way, this is a good book. You know, there’s a phrase in the Bible from Hebrews 6 that says, «And tasted the good word of God». This book has inherent goodness. It will do you good, and when you feed on it, it’s nothing but good. Sometimes you eat some food, right, and then in between, you read cholesterol this amount, sugar this amount. Those are trans fat this amount. Those things are not good, right? Or you all don’t care.
«Pastor Prince, you know, I give thanks and I just eat it, all right»? Yeah, but I’m just saying that it’s hard to find in the world something that’s so pure, but here, you find it, amen. The good word of God. In fact, when Joshua and Caleb came out from spying the land of Israel, which God gave to them. Like I said, the land parallels with the Bible. Back then, it was a physical inheritance for them. Today, for us, this book is our inheritance, amen. So we’re going to see what they did with the land, amen, the features of the land, and how it corresponds with the Word of God. I pray to excite you and open up your spirit to enter into the Word of God in a fresh, new way, amen, praise the Lord.
So it’s a good land, and when Joshua and Caleb came back, they said of the land, that this is, «'the land we passed through, to spy out is an exceedingly good land.'» Not just good land, exceedingly good land. Let me give you the Hebrew, all right. «Tovah» means good. «Haaretz» means land. «Tovah haaretz meot meot». The word exceeding is repeated twice. Good land, very very, and the only one that did it is a Darby’s translation and a Young’s literal translation brings that out. «The land to which we are passed over to spy out, is a very, very good land».
This Bible, this volume, this entire volume here is very, very good, and it will do you good, amen. We, his people today, we spend time in our inheritance, and how much you get out of your inheritance is how much time you spend in the Word of God. How much you see that this is your inheritance, amen? It’s a very, very good book because there are millions of books in the world. There are millions and millions down through the years. If you put all the libraries and all the books in the world together, there will be millions, but of all the books, God says, «This book is the glory of all books». This book has a feature that other books do not have. There is something about a book, when you read a novel for example, when you finish the novel, that’s it. It’s done. You can put it one side or you sell it off to a secondhand bookstore. You know, it’s over and done with. Seldom do you read it twice or three times.
I know people do that, but after that, twice is the most. That’s it, amen. You know the story, but this book keeps on speaking and speaking and speaking, amen. The deeper you go, the more treasures you know. It has vistas. It has vein underneath. Let me just tell you what God says about the land. The land that, «God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills». That means these depths here, these are undercurrent subterranean water. They are found in the valleys and in the hills. Whenever you are going through a valley season, a valley season is a season whereby you are going through a tough time.
Maybe you have received a bad prognosis from the doctor. Maybe you just received bad news of the foreclosure from the bank. You receive bad news about the deadline you’re not able to meet, and there are things happening around your world right now. You feel like you’re in a valley. Well the Bible says, «Look out for the subterranean underneath your feet, all right. There’ll be waters gushing out,» and the word here, spring out, is the word gush out. It’s inside, but it requires for us to read it, tap into it, until it gushes out, amen. Okay, so in Deuteronomy it says, «God brings you to a good land, a land of brooks of water, fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills. Land of wheat, barley, vines».
All right, vine is, you know, to intoxicate you, amen. I’m talking about spiritually speaking, okay, don’t get ideas now. Back then it was physical, but for today it is spiritual, joy. Vine always speaks of joy in the Spirit. Fig tree speaks of sweetness, amen. The sweetness of God’s, it’s all in God’s Word, and then pomegranate speaks of fruitfulness. You know pomegranate fruit, right? Like for example, the Song of Songs I talked to you about. Like this book, right in the middle of the heart of the book is the Book of Psalms and poetry books. Song of Songs is there. Why is it called the Song of Songs? Because it’s the song of the bridegroom for his bride, our Lord Jesus for us, amen.
So in the Song of Songs, it says this, «Drink deeply, O my beloved». The Lord is telling us, «Drink deeply, O my beloved. Eat abundantly,» amen. It’s all found here. Praise the Lord, amen. You thought about God’s Word. God’s Word is so full of different features. Like Israel, there are mountains, there are valleys, the deepest place on planet Earth is in Israel. The Jordan Valley, the Dead Sea. Some of you have floated in the Dead Sea. How many of you have been in the Dead Sea, all right? Okay, you have floated in the Dead Sea, right? It is so dense and, you know, the chemicals and all that, you cannot actually sink, but nothing is alive in the Dead Sea.
So even the land, like I said, I’m drawing a parallel between the land and the Word. You look at the land of Israel, there are lessons there for us to learn, right? Even lessons to teach kids, to teach children. For example, the Dead Sea. Why is it called the Dead Sea and why is there no fish in the Dead Sea? Why, because it has inlet, it has no outlet. So you’ve always receive and receive, and never give. You’re never generous. You’re dead, amen. But going northward In Israel, if you’re facing you the map of Israel, going northward, you go to Galilee. There’s a lake called Lake of Galilee, the Sea of Galilee, and it is thriving with fish. That’s where Jesus did the miracle of a net breaking, boat sinking, load of fishes for the disciples. Remember that?
And some of you have tasted the descendants of the fish when you are there, amen. We love it with the head and the tail, right? Not the filet type. Hey, come on! Come on, amen? Why is the Dead Sea dead? No fish, not a single fish can survive there. Nothing living survives in the Dead Sea, but in the Sea of Galilee, just North, it’s alive. Teeming with fishes. Why, because it has inlet and it has outlet. You see, it’s fresh. Fresh water, why? Because it’s always flowing. You’re not just receiving, receiving, receiving, amen. See friend, God knows if he can get things through you, he will definitely get things to you. He can trust you. He can trust you. Be flowing, be a channel. Don’t love money. Use it for God’s glory, amen. Amen, the more you drink, Jesus says, «If any man thirsts, let him come to me and drink».
Many a times I’ll pray when I open the Bible, I say, «Lord Jesus, I come to you in your Word. I come to you in your Word». When I come to him, what do I do? It’s for my own drinking. Drinking is personal consumption. You just drink for yourself, for your own pleasure. Drink, drink, drink, and Jesus says, «Out of your belly shall flow rivers of living water». Now those rivers are for others. It blesses others, but drinking is for yourself, but when you keep on drinking, keep on drinking, you’ll have rivers flowing out of you. You are refreshing everywhere you go. People love to be around you because you refresh them. It’s like when they leave you, they feel like they had a bath. They feel refreshed. They feel clean. They feel good, amen. I pray that it’s true every time you leave the church service as well.
Like Jesus told his disciples, «Now you are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you,» amen. Can I have a good amen? Praise the Lord, hallelujah, and God’s Word has… the land of Israel has olive oil and honey. That means what? When you spend time in the Word of God. There’s a verse in Job that says, «When I wash my steps with butter,» that means what? Butter comes from what? Coagulated milk, amen, and the milk has become coagulated, and it’s actually from milk. So the more you find the richness of God’s Word, because the Bible says, «God brings you to a land flowing with milk and honey,» and yet the Bible says, «As newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the Word,» amen.
So we have honey, sweetness. There’s sweetness in the Word of God, amen. Do you know the Bible says that God’s Word is so sweet? In Psalms 119:103, it says this. «How sweet are Your words to my taste, Sweeter than honey to my mouth,» amen. What is sweeter than honey? Have you tasted honey? God’s Word is sweeter than honey. I pray you come to the place where you find God’s Word is sweeter than honey to your mouth. «But Pastor Prince, I find it very hard to start. I don’t know where to start and all that», start somewhere! «You mean I can just open anyhow»? Yes! «And just read»? Yes, amen! «But Pastor Prince, this sounds so…»
Now, I’m not saying that this is a norm. If you can, all right. How can you build a relationship with someone always on the go? You need to find time to sit down somewhere, relax, and chit chat. Am I right? All right, you cannot just be on the go and build a relationship. Yes, we are all aware of that, but sometimes this emphasize so much that people think that, «I have to have all the tools of the Bible. I must know what kind of commentaries to have to help. What kind of study books to have». They don’t even get started. My advice, put a Bible near your toilet bowl, amen. Where you sit and release and live the let-go life, put a Bible there. «How can you say that, Pastor Prince»?
If you are religious, okay, let me tell you this. You will always be in bondage now that you are no earthly good. That’s being legalistic. You think God doesn’t know what you have? God created your body. God wants to be life and health to all your flesh. That’s why he gave you the ability to purge. Healthy organisms purge. Healthy churches also. So, put one near your toilet bowl. Put one in your dining area. When you watch your Netflix put one nearby. Put one when you’re watching TV. Sometimes they have commercials and all that. Some programs you’re watching, they have commercials. Pick it up, read it, amen. God is talking to you. He wants to talk to you more than you want to receive, amen. So just take that chance.
Don’t run to your text messages. Don’t run to your social media and all that. Speak to God. Let God speak to you. This book is about God speaking to you. You can talk to God. That’s prayer as well. You need to talk to God, but you see, when you talk to God, nothing happens usually. God hears your prayer. That happens of course, but when you talk to God, nothing happens in that sense, but when God speaks, whenever God speaks, things happen. So this book is about God speaking to you. Can I have a good amen? Are you all learning? And then it drops down, not only that, verse 9. God brings you to a land, «wherein you shall eat bread without scarceness». Whoa, in this book, you will eat bread without scarcity. God brings them to a land where they will eat bread without scarceness, and he says, in this land, «you shall not lack anything in it». I said, «You shall not lack anything in it,» amen.
In this book, you shall not lack anything in it. «I don’t understand, Pastor. Just by spending time in the Word, God supplies me»? That’s what God says. You think you are living just by, you know, you say, bread and butter, right? Issues, our daily life, but it’s more than that, friend. Listen, we don’t live by bread and butter. We live by the Word of God. That means God’s supplies, amen. And it says, «A land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you may dig brass». The word here, brass, should be copper. Copper is what they used in those days.
Now, iron is the strongest metal during that time. I know today it’s not. I think there’s tungsten and there’s titanium, but at one time, iron, during the Bible times was the Iron Age, they call it the Iron Age, was the strongest metal then. Those who built their weapons out of iron usually wins the war. So Israel had no iron implements, no iron weapons. The Philistines had iron weapons, and yet God gave victory, so you can see the glory goes to God. God gave victory to Israel, okay. So God is saying, «But this land, the iron that you want, is really there. Friend, you got to dig deep».
Notice, you got to dig. Some of you feel like you want light reading. How many feel that way sometimes? I feel like just light reading. Then you know what? There are historical narratives. There are stories in the Bible. The story of Joseph is exciting. The drama is there. The intrigue is there. Who betrayed who, and it’s all there. All the things you love in drama. The story of Ruth and Boaz, a romantic story. I never fail to read it without getting some encouragement. Even though I know the story, the more I read it, the more I find, I see new insights and it excites me, amen. This small book, Ruth, and then you have the story of David, amen. David as a boy, David as a king, and David running around being haunted down, and David in his older years, and there are so many narratives there.
Like the stories that we are living in today. So there are times I just love reading the stories. Will I get health out of it, yes. Please don’t think. It doesn’t say that, «My son, attend to the healing words only». It says, «Attend to my words». Just reading any part of the Bible yields all the benefits that God promised. Are you listening people, amen? But there are times you want to dig deep. «Oh yeah, there’s something here. I know there’s something here. I want to dig deep into this portion». I want to give you an example real quick. Okay, are you ready, amen? If you love God’s Word, you know there’s something more to the surface. Let me give you an example.
So this man has a daughter called Achsah. Say, «Achsah». Her name means anklet, all right. The anklet for adorning. Anything to do with the foot always has a picture of inheritance. God says, «Every place the sole of your foot shall tread upon shall be yours». God gave them the land, but God says, «Every place you step on will be yours,» right? So anyway, this happened in Joshua 15. «Then he,» Caleb, «went up from there to the inhabitants of Debir (formerly the name of Debir was Kirjath Sepher)».
Now, I told you just now about oracle. We all always want to speak as the oracles of God. Debir is actually oracle of God. The rhema of God. The spoken word of God. The now word of God, amen. And so, Caleb went up there to this place, and this place, notice where is it? It’s at Kirjath Sepher. This place still exists in Israel, by the way. It’s in a place called Kirjath Sepher. What is Kirjath Sepher? City of the Book. City of the Book. Do you know that you have a city to conquer people? It’s the city of the book. God tells you this is a city of the book that you have to conquer, and when you conquer it, when you get up to speak, you’ll be speaking like the oracles of God. That’s when the refreshing happens, the watering happens, the bathing happens, the healing happens, amen. From the logos to the rhema, okay.
So here, he says, «And Caleb says, 'He who attacks Kirjath Sepher and takes it, '» that means you conquer the city of the book. It’s like us today, conquer the Bible, amen. Learn the Word. He who takes the city of the book, takes it, «'To him I’ll give Achsah my daughter as wife.'» His daughter better be beautiful, all right. Obviously, she’s a beauty, amen. Like the father, amen, she grew out of a good stock, amen, and she is a woman of faith, as we are about to see. And he says, «I’ll give my daughter to wife,» amen. And, «Othniel the son of Kenaz, the brother of Caleb, took it; and he gave him Achsah his daughter as wife». So Othniel means the lion of God, all right. The lion of God.
Now, does that remind you of something? In the book of Revelation, it tells you that Jesus, in fact the voice is heard. «Behold,» the angel says, «the lion of the tribe of Judah has prevailed to open the book and to loose the seals thereof,» amen. So here is a small picture of Jesus opening the book, amen, but it’s also a message to all of us because whenever you see Jesus in the Word of God, especially in the Old Testament, you’ll find Jesus in all the shadows and types. Whenever you find Jesus, you know what? You find yourself. Why, because as he is, so are you. God sees you, where? In Christ today. Not outside Christ, amen.
So whenever you see Jesus, it’s in your vested interest because whatever you see him is, you are, and what he has, you have, because the Bible says we are joined as with Christ. So you see Jesus possessing something, you see yourself possessing it, and the Holy Spirit will make it happen in your life, just by beholding, amen. So the lion of God, the son of Kenaz, he took the city of the book and he got Caleb’s daughter. Can you see just from a short passage, just a few verses, we are digging deep. We’re looking at the meaning of names. We’re looking at the meaning of the city.
That has a relevance for us today. That speaks to us today. You can be a lion of God when you conquer this book, amen, and God will give you «achsah,» the foot to inherit. That means, God says, «Every place your foot shall tread upon shall be yours». The power to inherit what you see in the book and the promises will be given to you when you conquer this book, and the conquering doesn’t have to be entire Bible. Every day at a time. When you conquer that verse, you meditate on that verse. God gives you the «achsah,» the possession. The possession of it.
In closing, I just want to tell you… by the way, it says oil, olive, and honey. Honey is there, right, and I showed you honey already, right? Sweeter than honey. So remember that God’s Word is sweeter than honey. It should be sweet to you. It’s not always something that heavy stuff. Even the heavy stuff you read sometimes, it has honey in it, amen. Out of the ether, out of the dead carcass of a lion, came forth sweetness, came forth honey. God will bring all your rocky places, your hard places, God will bring honey out of it, amen. I pray in Jesus’s name, I hope that I’ve aroused in you that desire.
I know some of you, like, you know, we have people who are taking time to build their muscles. You know, I sound a bit like sour grapes here, but there are people who take time to build their muscles and all that, but you look at them through a spiritual x-ray, could very well be they’re spiritual anemics. Lying flat on a stretcher, so skinny. They sound like the angklung, you know angklung? You move only the whole thing rattles. Clong, clong, clong, clong, clong. But outside, they look strong, but spiritually, they are emaciated. Why, because we can’t even engage in a conversation sometimes. We don’t even know how to switch off. You can be talking to me and look at your text. That’s rude. It’s not even a bit rude, like the fruit. It is very rude.
«Oh, Pastor Prince, you’re so corny». Yeah, I hope you understand what I’m trying to say, get the point home. You know, it’s like, why is it you have to stop? Learn to switch off, it’s okay. These things are alright like I said before, but don’t let them dominate you. You dominate them, amen. Don’t let them master you. You master them. Da-ding! No, you don’t tell me when to pick you up. I bind you in Jesus’s name, amen. Control your social media time. Control your text message, amen.
Sometime I feel like, you know, the obligation to have to answer. Do you feel that, amen? So you learn to switch off, amen, and switch on. You have to. You have to in these last days, amen, and may the blessings, may the Lord bring you into a land flowing with milk and honey, and you’ll drink from fountains and depths, subterranean waters that spring out in the valleys and the hills, and may you learn also to dig for the brass and the iron, and become an iron man or an iron woman, amen. And I believe that you dig deep, there is also be veins of gold and silver. There’s a lot of treasures waiting for you, amen, in this book.