What does Canaan represent in the Bible?

The second reason why Canaan cannot mean heaven is, that Israel could be driven out of the land. This is not possible with heaven. It is impossible that the place into which God's grace brings us could ever be lost to a child of God. Canaan is the type of the heavenly position and possession which the believer has in Christ Jesus. It corresponds to that which in Ephesians is called "in heavenly places," or as better rendered "in the heavenly." It is the heavenly sphere, the heavenly, spiritual blessings given to us in Christ Jesus.

Now Canaan does not typify heaven, where Christ is. When we enter that blissful place, all conflict and fightings will be over for ever. It does typify the realm of heavenly blessing that is ours in Christ, and which we enter upon at the present time through spiritual conflict. Hence the Epistle to the Ephesians which opens with an unfolding of those "spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ," ends with the warfare indicated in Numbers 6. It is worthy of note that the recounting of the armour of God in that chapter is followed by the word, "Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit." We too must realize that to overcome we must be dependent on the power of God.

It was the same ark that compassed Jericho and brought down its walls, laying open to Israel the land of Canaan which God had given to them as an inheritance, but which could only be possessed by the overthrow of those nations who were ready to challenge their right to the lawful possession that God had given them. As is well known, this is a beautiful type of the truth brought before us in Ephesians 6:10-18. Canaan, for the true believer in Christ in this dispensation of grace, is "the heavenlies" mentioned in Ephesians 1:3, where it is written, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ." Then we learn from Ephesians 2 that God has "quickened us with the Christ," and "has made us sit down together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus."

Canaan is a picture of the heavenly inheritance to which all Christians are called now, as in Ephesians 2:6 we are told that God "has raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus." This is not future, but present. The proper position of the believer is heavenly, not earthly, and he is called to enter into the enjoyment of heavenly things now, just as Abram was called to sojourn in the land of his inheritance.

The extermination of the Canaanites is first of all demanded. Everything of idolatry was to be destroyed. The land was to belong to a holy people who belong to Jehovah, therefore the Canaanite with his abominations had to be driven out of the land. "If ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, those that ye let remain of them shall be pricks in your eyes and thorns in your sides and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell. Moreover, it shall come to pass, that I shall do unto you as I thought to do unto them" (33:55-56). The same warning was repeated by Joshua in his last address (Josh. 23:13). They did not drive them out as they were commanded, and they had to suffer in consequence of their disobedience.

The land of Canaan does not typify heaven, but our heavenly portion in Christ. In the annotations of the book of Joshua we hope to follow this more fully. The enemies in the land typify the wicked spirits, Satan and his powers. With these is our warfare, and we are commanded, like Israel , to conquer them. The boundaries of the land are given, and we find at the close of the chapter the names of the men who were to divide the inheritance unto the children of Israel . Notice the difference which is in the boundaries here as compared with Genesis 15:18. The promise given to Abraham and to his seed was under the covenant of grace, but Israel entered into the land under the law-covenant. If they had kept the law-covenant and had been obedient to Jehovah, they would have received the whole land. This they could not do. The original promise made to Abraham and his seed will be fulfilled in the future when the Lord will bring Israel back to possess the land. This will be in the millennium. The land will then be divided in a new way, revealed in the closing two chapters of Ezekiel.

The Old Testament shadow of heavenly places is the land of Canaan. Long before Joshua, God had chosen a people for a land, Israel for Canaan, a land of corn and wine, a land of milk and honey. When the time came for God to put into execution His promises, the chosen people were slaves in Egypt under Pharaoh. God stepped in and rescued them and across the great barriers of the Red Sea and Jordan, brought them into the land of promise. They were by promise of God not only to be in the land, but possessors of it. In fact, they found hostile nations in possession, and they only possessed it in the measure in which they conquered it. When they acted in the strength of Jehovah they were invincible, and the only thing which rendered them liable to defeat was disobedient conduct, as at Ai. Nevertheless they never possessed it in more than a partial sense in the past. Yet Scripture is unanimous that they will, in the age to come, possess it, not in the measure of their faithfulness, but in the full measure of the promise of God, from the river to the ends of the earth.

The book of Joshua describes the passing through Jordan, the conquest of the Canaanites and the distribution of the country among the twelve tribes. Israel received the promised land according to God's promise given to Abraham (Gen. 13:14-17; 15:7.16). But the people needed obedience and energy of faith for it.

In this story we see figuratively how the believers appropriate God's blessings by the power of the Holy Spirit. In the river Jordan we not only see a picture of Christ's death and resurrection for the saint (as in the Red Sea), but also the believer's raising up together with Christ (Eph. 2:6; Col. 3:1). Canaan is a picture of the spiritual blessings in the heavenlies (Eph. 1:3). Therefore the battles between Israel and the heathen Canaanites are a picture of the Christian's battle against the spiritual powers of wickedness in the heavenlies (Eph. 6:12).

The inheritance of Israel in Canaan is a type of our inheritance in Christ in the heavenly places; and as we are told in the epistle to the Ephesians that God hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ in the heavenly places, so in Joshua we are told that everything is ours; everything belongs to the people; God has given it to them; and it is now for them to take possession of their inheritance in the energy of faith.

The sovereignty of God is strongly affirmed in the first chapter; the law being His expressed will, in subjection to which they find strength and victory. By His power, Jordan is cut off, and entrance into the land given them over its dried-up bed. By His power alone, the walls of Jericho fall down. The failure of the people causes hindrance till the cause is judged; then the enemy is overthrown, the law is formally proclaimed at Ebal, and the tide of conquest rolls through the land. The tribes are apportioned by lot, and the tent of meeting is established at Shiloh.

Typically, we have in Canaan the heavenly things which are ours, and the bringing in of a heavenly people into their inheritance. It is the beginning of the kingdom of heaven upon earth, not seen in its earth-history, but in the position and portion of its heirs, which Christ's power has made ours, and we are called by faith to enter into and enjoy.

The crossing of the Jordan certainly reminds us of the passage of the Red Sea. But the emphasis in the case of the Red Sea was Israel's deliverance out of Egypt; while the crossing of Jordan emphasizes Israel's entrance into the land of promise. This is the positive side of Israel's blessing and reminds us of God's words concerning the saints of God today, "blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ"(Eph.1:3). Thus, the death and resurrection of Christ not only separates us from a hostile world, but it invests us with wealth beyond all imagination in a place of pure joy and eternal glory. Canaan is of course only a faint picture of this.