While parachuting of any kind is risky, the incoming fire of a fortified enemy, raises the danger profile for any special forces mission seeking to get behind enemy lines. Not only does a paratrooper become an easy target, but the sound of the aircraft would also alert the enemy.
HALO stands for High Altitude, Low Opening. This type of parachuting technique can be dangerous. The plane would fly minimally at 25,000 feet and sometimes up to 40,000 feet where it was undetectable even by radar. At such high altitudes of the Earth’s atmosphere, the oxygen required for human respiration is scarce. Lack of oxygen can lead to Hypoxia.
When it was time to jump, your first instruction was not to open your parachute. You would literally move into a free-fall. In a matter of seconds your terminal velocity would be 120 miles an hour, though you might hit speeds of up to 200 miles per hour. You open the chute at the last possible minute, with only enough time to save your life.
With canopy deployment at roughly 2000 feet, there’s just enough time to break your fall so that you land safely behind enemy territory. If you live, you get to fight the enemy.
I think that is an incredibly dramatic and accurate metaphor for followers of Christ, who are discovering the passages of life. The journey into the promised land begins at high altitude...
Ephesians 2.6,10 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus… ...For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
Acts 14.22 ...strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, “We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.”
The path into the promises of God begin high, but followers of Jesus eventually must engage the fight below. Authentic Discipleship is to have given our hearts to the only One, who can make us fully alive to go where He sends us, to live into His promises, and to fully enter His Kingdom plans and purposes.
God had brought the Israelites on a HALO mission. From the deliverance out of Egypt through the safe passages of the Red Sea and the Jordan River, the miracles of bread, meat, and water in the wilderness in the desert, and Divine manifestations of God in both cloud and fire - the Israelites stand before the mighty, fortified walls of Jericho and a battle for the city about to ensue.
The battle of Jericho in Joshua 6 begins at the end of Joshua 5. Joshua The Spirit of Christ stood ready with Joshua to lead the Israelites forth into to fight for His promises. He stands with us to - ready to lead.
The land of promise will usually lay behind enemy lines. You and I will have to find our HALO mission. We will have to fight. We will have to work. What promises lay behind the walls of Jericho for you? What life has God called you to fight for, which lies behind enemy lines?
An identity in Christ to live into… ...personal holiness, a maturity of faith, a maturity in your relationships The enemy fortifying
A friend-seeker, a lost family member…
A place of freedom in Christ… Freedom from a habit, a fear, depression - some
A renewal in marriage?
Joshua observed 5 priorities of instruction for the siege of Jericho. They are 5 priorities for us to observe, as well.
1. The Priority of Presence (v. 2)
Jericho was imposing; a fortified city of pagan worshipers and ruthless. Yet for Joshua, it was a place, where he experienced the presence of the Lord and heard the voice of the Lord. Scouting the great fortress of Jericho, Joshua has found a place of worshipful communion with the Lord. Strangely enough, it was a high altitude moment at the bottom of an intimidating challenge.
It was God’s Word to Joshua: See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and mighty men of valor. See… It was a word that invited Joshua to see from the perspective of the Spirit. It was an invitation to enter the realm of Spiritual
It was a message given to encourage. It was a message intended to animate. It was a Word that humbled and produced dependence. Joshua would not fight this battle without a priority of the Presence of the Lord.
Ephesians 5.18 ...be filled with the Spirit.
The command for all believers is to maintain the priority of continuous replenishment of the Spirit’s presence; a priority of His Presence.
2. The Priority of Motion (v. 3)
The Lord also required a priority of motion. We might also call it readiness.
You shall march around the city, all the men of war going around the city once. Thus shall you do for six days. Joshua 6:3
So what does the marching accomplish? Is there a clever strategy at work here? I think is serves 2 purposes:
First, motion keeps us alert. The children of Israel had already tasted the grain and the fruits of the promised land. They had crossed over Jordan and stepped out of the wilderness. They had crossed the border.
Yet, neither the Lord OR Joshua would settle for a plateau of arrival and rest. Now was the time for motion, a time for mobilization and readiness. Get moving! march! Ready yourselves for battle! Goals reached during times of transition must never be mistaken for arrival.
Over time it is easy to lose momentum and become frozen; captive to comfort, slaves to the dependable, locked into a stagnant place. The NT leaves no room for un-intentional faith:
And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Romans 13:11-12
Second, marching can serve notice to the enemy. How many old news reels are filled with the parades of old Soviet troops marching through Moscow or the Nazi military of Hitler’s German with that ridiculous high kick? It was more than a celebration of an empire. It was mean to get coverage.
The march around Jericho was more than a threat. It was a reminder that the people marching around that city were people, who had passed through the Red Sea and had crossed the Jordan River by the hand of God, and that God’s promises now lay within their camp. It was like the boxer measuring his opponent for his next barrage of punches.
When the church is loving its community or worshiping its Savior it is serving notice on the enemy that the God, who has loved us without measure and has delivered us from the power of sin, has an inheritance for us lying within their strongholds in families, strongholds in hearts, strongholds in communities.
When a follower of Jesus is steadfastly reading the Bible, passionately worshiping God, diligently serving others - there is a message for the enemy that the Disciple is in motion and readying themselves to take back their mind from fear, their body from sin, their possession from selfishness. There must be a priority of motion.
3. The Priority of Intercession (v. 4)
Intercession was the order given to the priests: Seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark. On the 7th day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets.
The Jews used two different trumpets, those made of silver and those made of ram’s horns. The silver trumpets were used to signal the camp when something important was happening.
The ram’s horns were used primarily for celebrations. The common Hebrew word for ’trumpet’ is shofar, however for ’ram’s horn,’ it is yobel; יוֹבֵל, meaning jubilee. The ’Year of Jubilee’ was the fiftieth year after seven Sabbaticals, and was a special time of celebration in Israel. Lev. 25.10...
The blast of the ram’s horns was a proclamation of liberty throughout all the land.” The role of the believer is modeled after the OT priest to intercession: to pray without ceasing (1Thessalonians 5:17).
4. The Priority of Expectation (v. 5)
Intercession should be followed by expectation. The rousing blast of the trumpet declaring liberty was met with great shouts of expectation.
Faith is not believing in spite of evidence, for the people of Israel had been given one demonstration after another proving that God’s Word and God’s power can be trusted.The Lord had opened the Red Sea, destroyed the Egyptian army, cared for His people in the wilderness, defeated great kings, given Israel their land, opened the Jordan River, and brought His people safely into the Promised Land. How could they do anything other than believe Him!
Worship and praise are the shouts of expectation in the body of Christ. They are the signs of an unwavering faith.
5. The Priority of Repetition (vv. 6, 7, 10)
Joshua’s leadership is found in the repetition of God’s Word to the people. Repetition of God’s Word to the men of war, the priests, and the entire camp. It brought God’s Word to the people; the promises of God back to their remembrance.
We can never get slack in reminding one another of what God has promised us and revealed to us. We can never grow lethargic in the discharge of our duties. When He says march, we march. When He commands us to intercede, we must pray. He commands us to show our expectation - We must be unwavering in our faith.
Repetition...
My son, keep my words, And treasure my commands within you. Keep my commands and live, And my law as the apple of your eye. Bind them on your fingers; Write them on the tablet of your heart. Proverbs 7:1-3
...speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ... Ephesians 5:19-20
Conclusion
Winning Jericho is not just about us. The promised land behind enemy lines is not just a passage for us into God’s purposes. It is about others, too.
Devote the entire city to God (Josh. 6:17-19).
Rescue Rahab and her family (Josh. 6:22-23, 25-26).
