In the same way, God’s goal in saving us is not to get us out of hell and into heaven- that’s just a bonus. The real goal is for us to experience all that He has promised us in Christ. This is not a minor emphasis in Scripture , but the heart of it. Paul speaking to the Roman Christians said,” For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son’(Rom.8:29).
To the Ephesians Paul revealed the goal of salvation in these words:” He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him”( Eph.1:4). 
Not a word about hell or heaven.

Escape from slavery in Egypt was not God’s goal for His people. Escape from hell is not the goal for God’s people.
 
God took them out of Egypt in order to bring them into their own land, the land He had promised. Generations before God took Abraham and had him look over the strip of land between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River and God said:” Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward; for all the land you see , I will give you and o your descendants forever” (.Gen 13:14-15).
 
Freedom from Egypt was only the first step. Not until they occupied Canaan would the rescue operation be  complete.
 

Canaan never symbolizes heaven in the Bible. Maybe in some hymns but never in the Bible. There were giants in Canaan- there are no giants in heaven. There were battles to be fought in Canaan- there will be no battles in heaven. God’s people sinned in Canaan- in heaven all traces of sin will be erased.
Canaan represents the fullness of salvation, the fullness of blessing, the possessing of our possessions. Canaan was what God redeemed Israel for, just as victory is what God saved us for. He brought us out of sin so that He might bring us into the abundant life. Many Christians are out but not in. They are like those spoken in 1 Corinthians 10:5-“ Nevertheless, with most of them God was not well-pleased; for they were laid low in the wilderness.”

Have you ever been to the Holy Land? I am not talking about Texas, I am talking about Israel. For many years I had not intention or interest in going but I began to study and read through the Book of Revelation and this peek my interest. So when we had a chance to go we took it along with a number of other friends and family. It was life-changing because all of sudden some of the places and names I had been reading about came to life. The most touching moment on our first trip was when we went to the Garden of Gethsemane and in the church there was a rock. It may have been the rock on which Jesus prayed and wept. I began to weep  thinking of how my Savior suffered and died for me. Sandra and I want to go back in 2019 and take a group. Maybe you would like to go- to see- to feel what it is like.

Now listen carefully, because this is fundamental to any understanding of God and how He works. God knew before you were. He knew what you were going to do before you did what you did. He was aware of it., whether you were acting wrong and letting the devil have his way or whether you were acting right. He knows because He is the Lord of the living and the dead.
For a long time I saw God as the God of the mountaintop. When I saw that He was also the God of the valley, and everything between, it changed my life. I saw that everything that happens is done in accordance to the counsel of His will.