God was angry with Christ on our account

Deuteronomy 1:37-38 (ESV)
Even with me the LORD was angry on your account and said, ''You also shall not go in there. [38] Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, he shall enter. Encourage him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it.

Even with me the LORD was angry on your account. Moses was the leader of the people of Israel. Therefore though he himself was a faithful servant in all God 's house, he had to carry the sins of all his people. Though he himself had found grace in his sight, he would pay for the sins of his people, carrying the wrath that was for them. This is also what our Lord Jesus Christ has done for us. Though He had not sinned Himself, God was angry with Him, not for His own sins, but on our account. He took the responsibility for the sins of His people, though He was faithful as a Son in God's house. Our sins was His sins on the cross, so that His righteousness could be our righteousness.

How much our Lord hated to carry the guilt of our sins! How much He hated to be separated from His Father even just for one day. It was pure Hell for a Holy God who has never experienced such things. He never committed sins, but He carried the consequence of isin for us. How much He did not like it, and cried to the Father for deliverance. But God did not give Him another choice:
Matthew 26:42 (ESV)
Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, "My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done."

Jesus drank down the cup of God's wrath that He had offered Him. God was angry at Christ on our account, not for anything He did, but because what we did. How much that wrath should have fallen upon us! But God gave not wrath but grace to us, that we may live. But it is only because Christ became us on the cross, that we become sons of God through faith in Christ.

You also shall not go in there. Just as Moses was refused entry to the good land, for a moment Christ was refused fellowship with God. The sky above Him became black with the clouds to show that His communion with God was temporarily stopped, so that God may begin His eternal communion with us. How can we know what this would have been like! This is only something we can imagine, and be in awe at God's marvellous works for us. How can we be thankless to Him, who took the punishment that we deserve. How can we live not for Jesus Christ, who loved us and have Himself for us?

Because Christ was refused access to God, we now have access to God. Our Lord Jesus stands before God, showing His wounds, still appearing as the Lamb that was slain, so that we may forever have access to Him:
Revelation 5:6 (ESV)
And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.

We will enter into the Kingdom of God because of the Lamb that has been slain. His blood has opened the gate of heaven for us. His blood is what keeps the love of God, the Holy Spirit, flowing to us always. His death has given us life. The wrath that He received, gives us everlasting joy. Let us throw away our lives for Christ, who has done this thing for us, who is still interceding for us.

Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, he shall enter. Encourage him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it. Joshua represents the risen Christ, who, after having paid for the penalty of their sins, causes his people to inherit the Kingdom of God. Though Christ died, having been refused access to God, being cursed under the Law, when He rose again He entered boldly into the Kingdom, as Joshua entered into the land. And He is still living, enabling all His people to enter in also as He did.

Christ is the one living in all believers that causes them to inherit eternal life. He is the one who fights the flesh, the world and the Devil for us, living through us, that we may bear the fruits for eternal life. It is not ourselves does this Christian life for us. Christ is the cause of our Christian life, the origin, and He is also the means through which our live out life as believers. He will also accomplish this life for us, that we may be blameless before God on the Day of Judgment:
1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 (ESV)
Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. [24] He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

Christ will make all His elect to inherit the Kingdom. He will lose none of them in the way, for they are in God's hand, which is His hand:
John 10:27-29 (ESV)
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. [28] I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. [29] My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.
We believers can never slip away from the hand of God. Though it may appear we are slipping away, and even falling from Him, but even if we go as low as we can go we will still be in His hand. And no one can snatch us away from God's hand. Christ will not rest or relent until we all receive eternal life, and the sanctification that accompanies that life. Christ will never give up this mission, even though we may give up and throw in the towel. He will carry us over the Jordan of death, and plant us a trees near the river of life. The zeal of the Lord will save the remnant, that is the Church of Christ:
2 Kings 19:31 (ESV)
For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the LORD will do this.

Encourage him. Though Joshua was to cause Israel to inherit the Kingdom, he was still a man, and he needed encouragement. He would be the one, and not Moses, doing the fighting with all the strong warriors of Canaan. But what would encourage him, more than anything?: "for he shall cause Israel to inherit it". It is God's promise that he would cause Israel to inherit it that would encourage him more than thousands of legions of armies. It is the belief in this promise that would give him the courage.

Likewise God's promise is our only true and lasting encouragement: Whoever believes in Christ will not perish but have everlasting life. He will keep us unto the end. He will be with us unto the end. He will wipe away all our tears. He will not give us temptation beyond what we can bear. He will hear all our prayers. He will glorify us and makes us like Christ. These promises are like gold and silver to us, and keeps us going in the midst of fear. What can give us more confidence, but that God has given us His promises and that we are in that promise?

It was this belief in the promise that helped Joshua to fulfill his mission as the leader of his people. He walked in the promise by faith and did not sway until the land was subdued before him. Let us hold on to the eternal promises that God has given us, and from there alone find the courage in the midst of fear. He will be with us, if we believe that He is indeed with us, and live by that truth. Blessed be our God. Amen.