Joshua 21:43 And the Lord gave unto Israel all the land which he sware to give unto their fathers; and they possessed it, and dwelt therein.
Joshua had just completed the Conquest of the Promised Land, though pockets of pagan resistance remained. He had just overseen the division of the land and the detailed inheritance allotted to each of the 12 tribes. This verse summarizes the long process of taking the Land and distributing it.
The paradox described here signifies a profound meaning for our spiritual lives: God gives the kingdom, heaven, eternal life by grace, but we must still believe in Christ to have it, that is, possess it and dwell in it. “For God so loved that he gave, that whoever believes in him shall have eternal life.” God gives; we possess. It is all of grace, freely given; Jesus did it all, leaving nothing for us to do. Yet we must still believe Him to have it, make it personal, make it real, make it alive. We are justified by grace, for Christ’s sake, through faith. Grace gives; faith receives. Both are necessary to possess life in the Kingdom.
The further Good News is that God the Holy Spirit creates faith through the hearing of the Gospel in Word and Sacrament. Faith is a gift. We cannot by our own effort believe and possess and dwell, but when we do believe and are saved we take comfort in the truth that it is a God-given faith. We respond by simply living in the Kingdom and enjoying it.