Battle Orders
Text: Joshua 1:10-18
Introduction
1. Illustration: Video clip from the movie "Gettysburg," side A; scene 24.
2. God can promise to give us the land, but until we pick up our armor and go into battle, it’s just a promise.
3. We have to execute God’s battle plan.
a. God’s Orders are Specific
b. God’s Orders are Encompassing
c. God’s Orders Require a Responsive
4. Read Joshua 1:10-18
Proposition: We have to follow God’s battle orders.
Transition: First, we must realize that...
I. God’s Orders Are Specific (10-11)
A. Take Possession of the Land
1. Again, let’s set the scene.
a. The Lord told Joshua that He was going to give the people the Promised Land and fulfill His promise to Abraham.
b. He told Joshua that everywhere he set his foot would be his.
c. He told Joshua that He would never leave him or forsake him.
d. But now Joshua had to act!
2. Verse 10 tells us, "Joshua ordered the officers of the people..."
a. A key word in this first chapter of Joshua is the word "order."
b. It appears forty-three times in Joshua, and seven of those are in the first chapter.
c. It refers mostly to God’s commands for his people. —New American Commentary
d. However, like any good leader, God delegated His authority to Joshua, who in turn delegated it to his officers.
3. Joshua commands his officers to "Go through the camp and tell the people ’Get your supplies ready."
a. Now what exactly these supplies were is not stated, and scholars disagree as to what they may have been.
b. However, the point here is that they had to take what they needed and get ready to use it.
c. Each man was responsible for his own supplies since there was no regular quartermaster’s corps. - (Expositor’s Bible Commentary, The, Pradis CD-ROM)
d. Illustration: When our dog Star wants a treat she knows she has to sit and "speak" to get it.
e. God can promise us the land from now until the second coming, but until we take and use what He’s given us, it will never happen.
f. God didn’t give us gifts so we could sit on them.
4. Next, Joshua gives them a timetable. He tells them "Three days from now you will cross the Jordan..."
a. It is possible that Joshua meant they would merely be setting out from their present encampment within three days, not actually crossing within three days—New American Commentary
b. In actuality, they didn’t cross for seven days due to delays.
c. However, the issue here is not the number of days it took to move, but that the decision had been made to move.
d. Talk is cheap. What really counts is action.
5. The concept that matters here is "go in and take possession of the land the LORD your God is giving you for your own.’"
a. The phrase "take possession of" carries with it the idea of taking by force.
b. Elsewhere in the OT, it is simply translated "drive out."
c. Sometimes even those things that are given to us we have to go in and claim for our own.
d. We can get an inheritance, but until we take it to the bank, it doesn’t do us any good.
B. Following God’s Orders
1. Illustration: Dr. J.B. Gambrel tells an amusing story from General Stonewall Jackson’s famous valley campaign. Jackson’s army found itself on one side of a river when it needed to be on the other side. After telling his engineers to plan and build a bridge so the army could cross, he called his wagon master in to tell him that it was urgent the wagon train cross the river as soon as possible. The wagon master started gathering all the logs, rocks and fence rails he could find and built a bridge. Long before day light General Jackson was told by his wagon master all the wagons and artillery had crossed the river. General Jackson asked where are the engineers and what are they doing? The wagon master’s only reply was that they were in their tent drawing up plans for a bridge.
2. Church, we can be like the wagon master and get the job done, or we can go and sit in our tent and draw up plans.
3. We can:
a. Make plans
b. Do programs
c. Strategize
d. And accomplish nothing
4. Or we can:
a. Get up
b. Go out
c. Get it done
5. It is easy to talk about the promises of God, but we need to lay claim to the promises.
6. It is easy to talk about taking the land in here, but until we go out there and take hold of it, we will accomplish nothing.
Transition: It’s time to take a hold of the promises of God and claim them for our own.
II. God’s Orders Are Encompassing (12-15)
A. You Are to Help Your Brothers
1. Now Joshua turns his attention to the "Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh..."
a. Back under the leadership of Moses, they had asked to settle east of the Jordan.
b. They were herdsman and saw that the land east of the Jordan had good pasturelands. So they asked for that to be there inheritance.
c. A part of the agreement was that they had to go with their brothers and take the land west of the Jordan.
2. He tells these tribes "The LORD your God is giving you rest and has granted you this land."
a. The promise of “rest” is found in all of these passages, and it is God’s gift, part of Israel’s inheritance.—New American Commentary
b. However, before they could sit back and enjoy their rest, they had to pitch in and see that their brothers have rest too.
3. Their wives and children could stay behind, but "all your fighting men, fully armed, must cross over ahead of your brothers. You are to help your brothers until the LORD gives them rest..."
a. The rest already granted to them could not be enjoyed until they all enjoyed it (Woudstra, NICOT: Joshua, 66).
b. They couldn’t sit back and relax while their brothers still had work to do.
c. They were a family, a unit; either they all would find rest or none of them would.
4. They had a responsibility to one another.
a. It wasn’t every man for himself.
b. It was all for one and one for all!
B. Everyone’s Job
1. Illustration: According to a Focus on the Family study of more than 500 family counselors, the following are the top traits of successful families: *Communicating and listening *Affirming and supporting family members *Respecting one another *Developing a sense of trust *Sharing time and responsibility *Knowing right from wrong *Having rituals and traditions *Sharing a religious core.
2. Phil. 2:4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
3. If we are going to take the land, we will need to do it together.
4. We cannot say, "Oh, that’s someone else’s job," because it is everyone’s responsibility.
5. If you come to me and say, "Pastor we need to...," I am going to say, "Good, when are you going to start it?"
Transition: We are in this together!
III. God’s Orders Require a Response (16-18)
A. Whatever You Have Commanded
1. The success or failure of any army depends on the whether or not the soldiers are willing to follow.
2. Now that Joshua has given the orders, look at the response: "Whatever you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go."
a. The officials of the people and the tribes east of the Jordan joined together in affirming their loyalty to Joshua and his instructions to them after he had spoken to each of them —New American Commentary
b. Notice their enthusiasm and whole hearted devotion to Joshua.
c. This wasn’t a "yeah...sure...whatever," it was "whatever you have commanded us we will do."
3. Especially notice the level of commitment: "Just as we fully obeyed Moses, so we will obey you."
a. They had fully obeyed Moses, and they would also fully obey Joshua.
b. There wasn’t going to be any "But Moses did it this way."
c. They were fully committed to following Joshua.
4. However, they insisted upon two conditions. First, they insisted, "Only may the LORD your God be with you as he was with Moses."
a. "Joshua if we are going to go across this river and follow you into battle, God had better be with you."
b. They knew that if they were going to take possession of the land that God had to be in it.
c. They knew that the battle was more spiritual than it was physical, and if they were going to win, it would depend on God.
d. 1 Sam. 17:47 All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD’s, and he will give all of you into our hands."
5. The other stipulation they had was "Only be strong and courageous!"
a. The final “Be strong and courageous” is the fourth time this exhortation has appeared in the chapter, the first three coming from God himself —New American Commentary
b. Nobody wants to follow a wimp!
c. They wanted to make sure that in the heat of battle Joshua wasn’t going to chicken out.
d. If God required it of them, then surely they had a right to expect it of him as well.
B. Willingness to Go
1. Illustration: Video clip from Gettysburg, side B; scene 22.
2. If the Lord is not with us, we cannot succeed, but if He is on our side, we cannot fail.
3. We have to be strong and courageous. We’ve got to be:
a. Willing to go into the heat of battle
b. Willing to follow where He leads us
c. Willing to go where He tells us to go
4. It is going to take:
a. Faith
b. Trust
c. Vision
5. But it is also going to take:
a. Obedience
b. Loyalty
c. Determination
Transition: If we step out and follow God’s leading, we will take the land.
Conclusion
1. If we are going to take the land, we must follow God’s orders.
2. His orders are:
a. Specific
b. Encompassing
c. Require Response
3. Are we willing to follow God’s battle plan:
a. Regardless of obstacles
b. Regardless of difficulties
c. Regardless of fear
4. Get ready; it’s time to cross the Jordan!
