Numbers 33:51-53 (ESV Strong's)
“Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you pass over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you and destroy all their figured stones and destroy all their metal images and demolish all their high places. And you shall take possession of the land and settle in it, for I have given the land to you to possess it.
Destruction before Construction
You have to plow before you can plant. That is a fundamental principle of life. You have to level the ground before you can put the foundation down to build your construction. This is the principle God tells Moses in the above passage. The nation is about to move into the Promise Land. They needed to know that the evilness of their world was there and they had a responsibility to drive it out. The same is true in our lives. We have to be willing to destroy the old before the new can take root in our lives. When we hand onto the old, the new can’t take firm hold in our lives. This is what is taught in the New Testament as well:
2 Corinthians 5:17 (ESV Strong's)
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
Ephesians 4:22-24 (ESV Strong's)
... to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
We are to put away the old. The nation of Israel would have to go into the land and destroy the wickedness in the land and allow God to rule their lives. The same is true of believers today. We have to destroy the old in our lives so that the new can be in control.
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