The Theme of Joshua Part 1
Last week we looked at the theme of the book of Deu. In Due. The same law that was given in Exodus is given to a new generation.
The past generation rejected God’s plan for their lives. They failed to be obedient and wandered around in the wilderness for 40 years until they passed away. Their life typified what we call the defeated Christian life. They were still saved. God was still with them. The cloud never left and they had mana in front of their tent 6 days a week year after year after year.
But they never did anything for God. They never had any victories. Never again did they see God’s hand move on their behalf in a miraculous way. Other than the daily provision and protection that they received. The first generation that received the law failed. So was the law at fault? Did God then decide to change the arrangement?
Nope. God did not modify the law. The new generation is given the same choice as the last generation. The fault was not with God’s rules, His promises or His Love.
When a Christian today fails to walk with God and rejects His ways and then rejects and rejects and rejects and ends up living a defeated Christian life. The problem is not with God’s ways or with His plan for their life. And just like way back then, God will not adjust His ways.
In Due. the same law is given but there is an emphasis on the two choices and the results. The theme of Due. Is obedience brings blessings and disobedience brings judgment. There is also an emphasis on how God loves them and how they are to love God back. Obedience and love are tied together.
The first 6 books of the Bible are unique in many ways. One way is that the theme of each book fits in proper order with the others. There is a natural progression of the themes of the first 6 books. You will not see this with the other books of the Bible. Not to this degree.
Gen – Man is a sinner that needs saving and God wants to save.
Exodus – Redemption.
Lev – Worship
Numbers – The theme is God has a plan for every one of His children and every one of His children has a free will to accept God’s plan or not. Acceptance of God’s perfect and good plan for your life brings blessings. Rejection of God’s plan for your life brings wandering around in the wilderness. Walking with God’s plan for your life leads to the victorious Christian Life. Rejection of God’s plan leads to the defeated Christian life.
Deu. – Obedience brings blessings and disobedience brings judgment. Obedience and love are tied together.
The book of Joshua records for us the history of the conquest of the land of Canaan. And Joshua is a picture of the victorious Christian life. Their physical battles are pictures of our spiritual battles.
The book of Joshua shows us that no spiritual victories are won without battles. And the book of Joshua shows us how to have spiritual victories. We have victory by believing God and being obedient to His will for our life. It is God that fights the battles. It is only by the power of God that we can win. We have to let Him do the work in us. The forces that oppose us are too strong for us to battle alone.
Just to give you an idea of this let us look at how powerful angels are.
2Ki 19:35 And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the LORD went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they [were] all dead corpses.
God only send one angel. It only took one angel to take out an army of 185,000 men. Angels are powerful.
Now listen to what the archangel Michael said to the devil.
Jud 1:9 Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.
He said The Lord rebuke thee. He did not say I rebuke thee. He said the Lord rebuke thee.
Even with all of the power that the angel Michael has he still relies on the Lord when dealing with the devil.
How much more then should we rely on the Lord in our spiritual warfare with the powers of darkness. We need His power to win the battles, and to get His power we need to be obedient.
The book of Joshua starts by stating that winning the battle is conditional upon obedience.
Jos 1:7 Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it [to] the right hand or [to] the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest.
Joshua is told to observe to do all the law that he may prosper. His prospering was conditional on obedience. And this principle is stated again in verse 8.
Jos 1:8 This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.
Observe to do, for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous.
The principal in Joshua is, you be obedient to God’s will and He will give you victory in your spiritual battles. The prosperous here is NOT talking about money. The context clearly shows that this is talking about being prosperous in the battles that lie ahead for them.
In the victorious Christian life it is God who wins the battles.
We see the guiding hand of God in chapter two. Before they took their first step into the land of Canaan, God was already at work winning the battle. God already had the plan worked out and He had already put the plan in motion. All they had to do was to be obedient and follow.
Jos 2:1 And Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly, saying, Go view the land, even Jericho. And they went, and came into an harlot’s house, named Rahab, and lodged there.
Joshua sent out two spies and God had already prepared a woman named Rahab to hide them and help them. And listen to what Rahab said to them.
Jos 2:9 And she said unto the men, I know that the LORD hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you.
Jos 2:10 For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red sea for you, when ye came out of Egypt; and what ye did unto the two kings of the Amorites, that [were] on the other side Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed.
Jos 2:11 And as soon as we had heard [these things], our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you: for the LORD your God, he [is] God in heaven above, and in earth beneath.
And you know the rest of the story. The spies escape and get back to Joshua.
Jos 2:23 So the two men returned, and descended from the mountain, and passed over, and came to Joshua the son of Nun, and told him all [things] that befell them:
Jos 2:24 And they said unto Joshua, Truly the LORD hath delivered into our hands all the land; for even all the inhabitants of the country do faint because of us.
Before they even step foot in the land, God is already at work. He is melting the hearts of the enemy. He is putting His terror upon them and preparing them for defeat. They had no power on their own to put this fear in the enemy. They were a bunch of sheepherders with their families. They were not a trained technologically advanced army.
They did not have iron chariots and other such instruments of war that the enemy had. They did not have any equipment that would help them breach the walls of the enemy. As an army they could not strike terror. But God can. It was God that was doing the work in the hearts of the enemy before they took their first step into the land.
In Chapter three they cross the Jordan and again we see that it is God that was at work and they were just being obedient.
They had no way to cross the river Jordan. There were not any bridges and it was the time of year when the Jordan River was overflowing its banks. Human reason would say that we need to wait for the water to go down. But God said cross.
So out of faith they were obedient and God did a great work. God overcame their obstacle.
Jos 3:15 And as they that bare the ark were come unto Jordan, and the feet of the priests that bare the ark were dipped in the brim of the water, (for Jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvest,)
Jos 3:16 That the waters which came down from above stood [and] rose up upon an heap very far from the city Adam, that [is] beside Zaretan: and those that came down toward the sea of the plain, [even] the salt sea, failed, [and] were cut off: and the people passed over right against Jericho.
Jos 3:17 And the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan, and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground, until all the people were passed clean over Jordan.
It says that the river was overflowing and the priests dipped their feet in the brim of the water. That would have taken some faith to step out when the river is still at full force with no sign of letting up. And as they stepped into the water by faith and the water stopped and stood up in a heap. They were obedient and God worked.
They get across and you would think that they should set their army in array. But God tells them differently.
Jos 5:2 At that time the LORD said unto Joshua, Make thee sharp knives, and circumcise again the children of Israel the second time.
Jos 5:3 And Joshua made him sharp knives, and circumcised the children of Israel at the hill of the foreskins.
Jos 5:5 Now all the people that came out were circumcised: but all the people [that were] born in the wilderness by the way as they came forth out of Egypt, [them] they had not circumcised.
Everyone that was born in the wilderness needed to be circumcised. Everyone over the age of 20 who came out of Egypt died. So the only ones who were circumcised had to be under 20 years old when they left Egypt. That was 40 years ago so anyone who was 1 year old would now be 41 and anyone who was 19 was now 59.
Anyone from the ages of 41 to 59 would not have to be circumcised because they were circumcised when they left Egypt. All males under the age of 41 had to be circumcised now.
A question that was asked last week is why did they not circumcise every person as they went along. Why were they not obeying God in the wilderness those 40 years.
The answer is they were living the defeated Christian life. Most people who claim Christianity do the same thing today. They are saved. They belong to the Savior, but they are not really interested in getting to close to Him. They will obey Him in the few things that they want to obey but not in others.
An example would be they wanted to pick up the manna 6 days a week and obeyed that. But they did not circumcise their children.
The new Generation has stepped out in faith and has crossed the Jordan. They have crossed into the victorious Christian life. But there is a problem.
Just as love and obedience are tied together in Due. Victory and obedience are also tied together in Joshua.
If they go any further without taking care of this issue it would be a total disaster. So they must stop their march forward and get into obedience with God’s command for them.
Now think about that. Put yourself in Joshua’s place. You have just entered enemy territory; you have all your possessions with you, all of the children, goats, cows, and sheep. This would be a perfect time for the enemy to attack.
And God tells you to circumcise all of your fighting men from the age of 20 to 40. The heart of your fighting force are going to be out of action laying on their backs in pain for days.
Now Joshua had a choice. Do what might make sense to you and disobey God and keep your fighting force strong. Or in faith obey God.
Jos 5:8 And it came to pass, when they had done circumcising all the people, that they abode in their places in the camp, till they were whole.
They obeyed God and God protected them. They were safe from the enemy. They chose faith over disobedience. This is important. Faith is just as critical as loving God and as obedience. The victorious Christian life must be lived by faith.
Jos 5:9 And the LORD said unto Joshua, This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you. Wherefore the name of the place is called Gilgal unto this day.
Jos 5:10 And the children of Israel encamped in Gilgal, and kept the passover on the fourteenth day of the month at even in the plains of Jericho.
Jos 5:11 And they did eat of the old corn of the land on the morrow after the passover, unleavened cakes, and parched [corn] in the selfsame day.
They kept the Passover on the 14th, they had crossed the Jordan on the 10th. They stayed there in peace for 5 days while the men healed.
They even ate of the old corn of the land. What land? The land of Canaan. Where did they get the corn. Out of the storehouses. They just walked up and took it. Where were all the people of the land, where were all the guards?
God had them all quaking in their boots in hiding.
They trusted God, had faith and obeyed Him, and God made them perfectly safe. God gave them victory.
You all know what happens later, they march to Jericho. God tells Joshua to go around the city once a day for six days. This method of attack would try their faith, patience, and obedience. It would test if they were willing to obey something, which in human reasoning would seem impossible.
Then on the 7th day they go around the city 7 times and then the priests are to blow with the trumpets and the people are to shout with a great shout.
And the walls all fall flat. They obeyed God even when it went against human reasoning and God gave the victory. God did the all the work. Their horn blast and their shout was not what knocked the wall down. It was God fighting the battle for them. All they had to do was be obedient.
Joshua is a picture of the victorious Christian life. Their physical battles are pictures of our spiritual battles.
The book of Joshua shows us that no spiritual victories are won without battles. And the book of Joshua shows us how to have spiritual victories. We have victory by believing God and being obedient to His will for our life. It is God that fights the battles. It is only by the power of God that we can win. We have to let Him do the work in us. The forces that oppose us are too strong for us to battle alone.
There is an important issue about all of this that we will have to go over next week.