When God told Joshua to allot all the Promised Land to Israel, wasn’t He getting ahead of Himself? Sure, most of chapter 13 details the distribution of the land on the east side of the Jordan, land that the people had already conquered. But God Himself said in Joshua 13:1 that “very much of the land remains to be possessed.” So, why would He tell Joshua to divide up land which the people didn’t yet control?

We might want to say it was because God knew the people would soon finish the job, driving out all their enemies. Except that they didn’t. They didn’t drive out the Geshurites or the Maacathites from their territory east of the Jordan (Joshua 13:13). The sons of Judah did not drive the Jebusites out of Jerusalem (Joshua 15:63). The Ephraimites did not drive out the inhabitants of Gezer (Joshua 16:10). And the Manassites were not able to take possession of all their allotted cities either (Joshua 17:12).

Okay, so why did God treat all this land as if the people had already possessed it? Well, why does He treat all those who are trusting in Christ as though we are already holy and righteous? Why does He allow sinners like us to come into His presence in prayer?

Because He credits the righteousness of Christ to our account. As Paul explains in II Corinthians 5:21, “He (the Father) made Him (Christ) who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” In short, God considers all who trust in Christ to be holy, not because we have no sin remaining in our lives, but because Christ’s holiness has been reckoned or imputed to us.

Now, of course we still have a lot of work to do our in our lives to become more righteous, to become what God has already declared us to be. After all, the people of God still had to possess the land God was declaring to be theirs. But we can still rejoice, confident that just as God empowered the people of Joshua’s generation to take up their inheritance, He gives us the grace to become more like Christ each and every day.

Joshua 13:1-7 (NASB)

Now Joshua was old and advanced in years when the LORD said to him, “You are old and advanced in years, and very much of the land remains to be possessed.
2 “This is the land that remains: all the regions of the Philistines and all those of the Geshurites;
3 from the Shihor which is east of Egypt, even as far as the border of Ekron to the north (it is counted as Canaanite); the five lords of the Philistines: the Gazite, the Ashdodite, the Ashkelonite, the Gittite, the Ekronite; and the Avvite
4 to the south, all the land of the Canaanite, and Mearah that belongs to the Sidonians, as far as Aphek, to the border of the Amorite;
5 and the land of the Gebalite, and all of Lebanon, toward the east, from Baal-gad below Mount Hermon as far as Lebo-hamath.
6 “All the inhabitants of the hill country from Lebanon as far as Misrephoth-maim, all the Sidonians, I will drive them out from before the sons of Israel; only allot it to Israel for an inheritance as I have commanded you.
7 “Now therefore, apportion this land for an inheritance to the nine tribes, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.”