Numbers 33:52, 55 Then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their pictures, and destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down all their high places…And if ye shall not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall come to pass, that those which 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.
A mysterious paradox unfolds in the Story: possess the land God gives. They were to drive out those who were dwelling in the land which God gave. So which is it? How do we possess what God has given? It is both! God gives the kingdom to us for free by grace, and we receive it by faith. It is two sides of the same coin.
But in fact, the reality is that it is all of God. We are saved by grace, nothing of ourselves nor do our works add to the grace gift of salvation. Yet it is through faith that we receive the grace; furthermore, God, the Holy Spirit does the work of giving, granting, planting, and creating faith in our hearts through the power of the Gospel. God freely gives the gift of life and salvation, and He also gives the power to believe it, and receive it and possess it through the hearing of the Word.
God gives it all, from giving the kingdom (grace), to giving the ability to possess it (faith). Even though we do not earn it, merit it, or work for it, we still respond by having, possessing, eternal life. Faith is our response. God puts the kingdom in the heart by grace, for Christ’s sake; however, the Enemies of God dispute with us about ownership of the Kingdom and living in it. Therefore, with God’s help, and only by God doing it, we respond by driving out the spiritual enemies who are occupying the land or trying to occupy the kingdom that is already within the soul. The Kingdom is an occupying force seeking to drive out the spiritual forces of unbelief that try to prevent us from living in the Kingdom and enjoying the blessings of the King.
Jesus overcame and gave us the Kingdom, but as long as we live there will be pricks and thorns. We daily drive them out and destroy false thinking and living.