“The Cities Are Great and Walled Up to Heaven”
By R. D. Quinn
THE building of cities and temples is the result of apostasy from God. To this Hosea referred when he wrote, “Israel hath forgotten his Maker, and buildeth temples; and Judah hath multiplied fenced cities.” Hosea 8:14. This departure from God’s original plan began with Nimrod, whose very name signifies rebellion. From the time of the building of those first great cities in the plain of Shinar, notable among which were Babylon and Nineveh, until our own unparalleled age of centralization and city building, the devil has entrenched himself within these strongholds. It was the cities that were great and walled up to heaven, and the giants living in them, that staggered Israel’s faith by Kadesh-Barnea, and indirectly delayed their entrance into the promised land for nearly forty years. The whole land of Canaan was Israel’s by deed of gift, but notwithstanding this, every square mile of it had to be claimed from the hand of the people who possessed it. “Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given you, as I said unto Moses.” The country was theirs, but it had to be possessed. They must put their feet down upon it, and claim it for God. This they had known for forty years; but those great and walled cities, lying directly in their path, had to be entered and taken before they could come into their inheritance; for the people were to pass “over right against Jericho.” “And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes.” Behind him was the swollen Jordan; before him were the towering walls of Jericho. As he withdrew from the encampment to meditate and commune with God, he could not forget that, forty years before, the former generation had cried out for bondage in Egypt, or graves in the desert, rather than to face the terrors of those walled cities. The record states that Joshua lifted up his eyes. It is well that he looked up. The outlook at times may be very dark, but the uplook is always light. It was while Joshua was engaged in earnest prayer, that the Captain of the Lord’s hosts appeared, and gave him directions for the taking of the city. It is not difficult for us to understand these things; for, spiritually, we occupy a similar position. Standing on the very confines of heaven all these years, we are still confronted with the great cities of our land, which have long been neglected, and have stood in the way of our onward march. We are face to face with these strongholds, these modern Hebrons and Jerichos. Our only way to the promised land leads directly through them. They must be warned. It seems that these great and wicked cities have been left to the last of the unworked and unconquered territory for God. But they must be entered, and the honest gathered out, before the end shall come. In the past, God has demonstrated that as long as there is one soul, even as Rahab in Jericho, seeking after light, he will send his messengers to such a one. If there is but one righteous man in Sodom, God will withhold his judgments until his messengers have brought him out. For us the nearest way to the promised land is by the way of the cities. Let us be of good courage, having the assurance that we are well able to go up and possess the land; for it is written, “The house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.”