Let The Walls Collapse Series

SCRIPTURE READING: Joshua 6:1-7

Now the gates of Jericho were securely barred because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in.

2 Then the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men.

3 March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days.

4 Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets.

5 When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have the whole army give a loud shout;then the wall of the city will collapse and the army will go up, everyone straight in.”

6 So Joshua son of Nun called the priests and said to them, “Take up the ark of the covenant of the Lord and have seven priests carry trumpets in front of it.”

7 And he ordered the army, “Advance! March around the city, with an armed guard going ahead of the ark of the Lord.”

INTRODUCTION:

There are many fortifications that exist in the world that have been designed to protect those who are inside from their enemies, here are three of them.

1.The famous ROCK OF GIBRALTAR

This is located on the southern edge of Spain and the northern coast of Africa.

The British took advantage of the geography by building one of the most famous fortified positions for its time.

The eastern face of the Rock of Gibraltar is a sheer cliff face, while the western slope is comparatively less steep but still a formidable position for an invader.

Hundred tunnels were carved into the rock and used for communication, for storage maneuvers and cannons.

Various batteries and walls were also constructed.

The biggest triumph came during the Great Siege, when the garrison held on for three and a half years and suffered only 333 deaths as a result of military action.

The saying, "solid as the Rock of Gibraltar" is used to describe a place of safety and strong.

2. MASADA

Masada is located atop an isolated rock cliff at the western end of the Judean Desert overlooking the Dead Sea.

On the east side, the rock falls in a sheer drop of about 450 meters to the Dead Sea and on the western edge it stands about 100 meters above the surrounding terrain.

The natural approaches to the cliff top are very difficult.

The main stronghold is accessible only by three narrow paths leading to the gates and is also quite small.

This makes it easier to defend and hard to conquer.

According to Flavius, Herod the Great built the fortress of Masada between 37 and 31 BC.

During that time, Herod had been made King of Judea by his Roman overlords and "furnished this fortress as a refuge for himself."

It included a strong wall around the plateau, storehouses, large cisterns ingeniously filled with rainwater, barracks and places for armory.

Some 75 years after Herod's death, when the Jews revolted against the Romans, a group of Jewish rebels overcame the Roman garrison of Masada.

They were joined by zealots and their families who had fled from Jerusalem and held out for three years harassing the Romans.

But it was only after the Romans established camps at the base of Masada, laid siege to it, built a wall and constructed a rampart of thousands of tons of stones.

Then, they moved a battering ram up the ramp that finally breached the wall of the fortress.

The Jewish defenders (allegedly) chose to kill each other rather than surrender or attempt to breakout.

I saw the movie and I can still remember how they did it.

3. FORT DRUM

This is also called "El Fraile Island) also know as the "concrete battleship" that is a heavily fortified island situated at the mouth of Manila Bay, south of Corregidor Island in the Philippines.

The reinforced concrete fortress is shaped like a battleship built by the United States in 1909 as one of the harbor defenses at the South Chanel entrance during the American colonial period.

However, it was captured an occupied by the Japanese during the World War II.

The facility was still functional while Manila was being recaptured in 1945, so it had to be neutralized before troops could land.

Naval and air bombardment was insufficient to completely destroy Fort Drum, so after the guns were suppressed, US engineers gained access to the top deck, pumped a mixture of diesel and gasoline into the fortress, and ignited the mixture with a timed charge, killing the Japanese garrison.

These are only three of the most fortified walls, there are many more all over the world.

Palaces, caves, cliffs and strong fortifications designed to protect men from their enemies.