Whose side is the Lord on? Joshua 5:13-15
I’ve found a list of the rules of life that were written from one man to his wife. I’m sure that some of the men here will find this enlightening while the women may want to find out if their husband agrees with any of them and deal with them later. Here they are.
1.Learn to work the toilet seat. You are a big girl. If it is up, put it down. I need it up, you need it down and you do not hear about me complaining about you leaving it down.
2.Shopping is not a sport -- and no, I’m never going to think of it that way.
3.Crying is blackmail.
4.Ask for what you want and let me be clear on this one: Subtle hints do not work! Strong hints do not work! Obvious hints do not work! Just say what you want!
5.Yes and no are perfectly acceptable answers to almost every question. In other words, you don’t have to explain why you think the way you do.
6.Come to me with a problem only if you want help solving it because that is what I do. Look to your girlfriends if you need a sympathetic ear.
7.You seem to think that anything I said six months ago is admissible in an argument when in fact; all comments become null and void after seven days.
8.If something I said can be interpreted two ways, and one of the ways makes you sad or angry, I meant the other one.
9.You can either ask me to do something or tell me how you want it done; not both. If you already know best way to do it, then do it yourself.
10.Whenever possible, please say whatever you have to say during commercials.
11.Christopher Columbus did not need directions and he found America even though he had never been there before, so, I don’t need directions either.
12.All men see in only 16 colors, like Windows default settings. Peach, for example, is a fruit, it’s not a color, pumpkin is also a fruit and I have no idea what mauve is.
13.If it itches, it will be scratched. I do that.
14.If I ask what is wrong and you say "nothing," I will act like nothing is wrong. I know you are lying, but it is just not worth the hassle.
15.If you ask a question you do not want an answer to, expect an answer you don’t want to hear.
16.When we have to go somewhere, absolutely anything you wear is fine. Really.
17.You have enough clothes.
18.You have too many shoes.
19.I am in shape; round is a shape.
20.Thank you for listening to this and yes, I know, I have to sleep on the couch tonight but did you know men really do not mind that? It’s like camping.
“And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand: and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, art thou for us, or for our adversaries? And he said, nay; but as captain of the host of the LORD am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, what saith my lord unto his servant? And the captain of the LORD’S host said unto Joshua, loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so.”
Now, just before we look at this passage, there’s one little verse I want to look at again and it’s verse 12 where it says, “And the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land; neither had the children of Israel manna any more.”
The word “manna” actually means, “what is it?” And that tells us that the people were mystified not only by it’s appearance but also because it was something they had never seen before. The scripture says, it looked like coriander seed and this refers to its shape and it was the color of bdellium which is similar to a pearl. No one really knows how they cooked it or what it tasted like but it’s assumed they had 300 ways to prepare it or they might even have eaten it raw.
When we hear about how God provided for them we forget that they were homeless for forty years. They had no food in the freezer, no canned goods in the cupboards and no where to get a snack before they went to sleep. And that was what life was like for these two million people who traveled through the desert.
And they did this for forty years. And all this time God provided for them and even though they grumbled, He kept the food coming. Grumbling is not really complaining but it’s more like an attitude of discontent. Grumbling is what we do when we stand in front of a closet full of clothes and say, “I don’t have a thing to wear!” Grumbling is sitting down to a dinner of Mac and Cheese and saying, “Why can’t we have pizza?” Grumbling is looking at the bills and complaining about how much it costs to feed a family or go to the dentist or pay for gas. And when we grumble what we’re actually saying is, what God has given us either isn’t enough or it isn’t good enough. And when you think about it; if anyone treated us that way we probably wouldn’t talk to them anymore.
But, how does God react? He provided their daily bread every day for the next forty years, even when they were grumbling. This shows something of the loving nature of God.
So, He gave them manna. I was thinking about this the other day and thought it was a lot like the government pension plans that are available today. Now, I know there are a lot who’ll say, “The pension is hardly enough to live on” and I’m sure that’s true, and yet, we tend to forget that there was a time when if you couldn’t work or if you had no one to support you; you were simply dependant on the mercy of others. It wasn’t that long ago when there were no government cheques and no senior’s residences like the Drew and the others. I remember when I was growing up in Cape Breton and I’m sure it was the same here; it seemed like everyone had an older person living in their home. It might have been a relative or it might have even been a neighbor but every home had a rocking chair and it was always occupied.
So, in this generation we’re a little better off than the one before and in a sense these people were better off than their forefathers who were not only slaves in Egypt but they also had free food. And the manna was something that was always there. I mean, they’d go out every morning and there it was and then, all of a sudden; one day it stopped. And this would start a whole new way of living for these people. They had to kill animals and find fruit and vegetables that were already growing while they planted gardens to prepare for the next year and all this was something they never had to do before.
It’s interesting to see that the manna was such a significant part of their life that God told them to include some of it in the Ark of the Covenant as a memorial. And in the ark were Moses rod that budded, the Ten Commandments that Moses received from the hand of God and a pot of manna. So, even though it was something that only lasted during their wilderness wanderings God wanted them to remember it.
Last day we ended with the Israelites camping on the shore of the Jordan River just after they crossed over and we saw how all the men took part in the act of circumcision and as I said this was a mark of separation from the world around them and then we also saw how they all took part in the Passover celebration and this acknowledged both their repentance and their recommitment to God. So, what they were doing here was re-establishing their relationship with God. After all, they knew they had to be on solid ground with Him before they were ready to go forward; so, they had to decide not only whether or not they’d enter the Promised Land but also how they’d live the rest of their lives. And they also had to decide, are we going to serve the Lord the way He wants to be served or are we simply going to do our own thing?
And when you think about the act of circumcision being performed on grown men and the celebration of the Passover and both of these are taking place about three and a half miles from the front door of their enemies then you realize that this was a conscious decision on the part of every one of them. I mean, they had decided to follow God whenever He led and where ever He told them to go. Now, I can understand someone going to the Passover feast just to get a free meal but the line-up for circumcision wasn’t filled with men who had nothing else to do. So, this was a decision and it was a conscious decision that each of them made to follow God.
There was an interesting study from the University of Adelaide in Australia and it listed seven reasons why people can’t make a decision.
1. A sense of perfectionism. These are people who think, if I can’t do it perfectly then I just won’t do it at all. And these people always end up doing nothing and for the most part they feel good about that.
2. There’s a fear of failure. And we all fear failure because none of us wants to look bad in the sight of others but these people have such a fear of making the wrong decision that they never make any decision at all. And they comfort themselves by listing all the things that could have gone wrong.
3. There are those who give themselves excuses like, if I had more time I could make the right decision but since none of us has all the time in the world they end up using the time they have; to do nothing.
4. There are others who hang onto messages from the past. And let’s face it, there are many of us who hear voices from our past that say, “You’re too dumb, or you can’t decide that, you don’t have enough sense to do something like that, you’re not going to make the right decision, you’re going to be a failure, so, why don’t you just leave it to someone else who has more brains than you.” And these people actually allow these messages to be their excuses for never doing anything.
5. Then there are those who do something on the basis of irrational thinking. I mean, they literally do something that’s based on something stupid. I’ve heard of people getting married on a dare. One man told me he said to his wife two hours after he met her, “I’ll bet you wouldn’t say yes if I ask you to marry me.” She said, “yes” and they were married two weeks later. I had a car salesman say, “Someone walked into the showroom looked around and said, I’ll take that car right there if you can have it ready by five o’clock.” And he literally bought it without driving or even sitting in it. And then one time I asked someone why he did something that was obviously stupid and he said, “It just seemed like the right thing to do at the time.”
6. Then there are those who’ll say, “I don’t have enough information to make a decision” and usually that means they wouldn’t make a decision no matter how much information they got.
7. And on the other side are those who’ll say, “I’ve got too much information or information overload. So, I have to think about it for a while.” And all they ever do is think.
So, all these people were actually making decisions not to make decisions but in this passage we that Joshua wants to do God’s will but he’s not sure what God’s will is and the text says that ‘when Joshua was by Jericho’ and this tells us that he probably left the camp and went for a walk to try and figure out what they were going to do about this massive stronghold called Jericho. And it wasn’t that he wasn’t trusting God to lead him but he was just trying to figure out what God’s will was.
And what you’ve got to realize here is that Jericho was one of the greatest fortresses in Canaan and not only did it block Israel’s path but the Jews didn’t have any means to break down the doors or even weapons to fight with.
Archaeologists tell us that the walls of Jericho were 90’ tall and 30’ thick and the city was about two or three miles around. So, it wouldn’t be such a big deal to just march around the city but they’d also have to worry about the armies of Jericho coming out and attacking them.
So, it says, Joshua went for a walk one night and he was probably wondering what are we supposed to do now? I mean, how do you attack a fortified city when you don’t know what’s inside and you don’t even have any weapons or trained soldiers? And then, all of a sudden he sees a man of war appearing with a sword in his hand and having a sword in your hand was equivalent to pointing a loaded gun at someone. It was like this soldier was standing there prepared to fight.
And Joshua asks him two questions and each of these reveal something about himself. And the first one shows us his courage as he asks, “Whose side are you on? Are you for us or are you for them? Are you here to help me attack Jericho or are you going to try to stop me?” You see, as far as he was concerned, there was no room for neutrality. You’re either with me or you’re against me. And he must have thought, “Since he’s not one of ours, he’s either the enemy or he’s someone who’s come to help us.”
And in verse 14 this person identifies Himself as the “captain of the hosts of the Lord,” which is another way of saying He was the commander of the Lord’s army. People have referred to this as a theophany, which is an appearance of God but I think a better term is a Christophany which is a manifestation of the pre-incarnate person of Jesus Christ. And since He’s the commander that tells us He wasn’t alone but He had all the unseen armies of angels who were under His command and ready to fight for the people of God.
We see this in 2 Kings where Elijah prayed that the Lord would open his servant’s eyes and when He did his servant was able to see that the mountains around were filled with horses and chariots of fire. Jesus said in Gethsemane that He had at His disposal twelve legions of angels He could call on at any moment. We’re told in Hebrews 1:14 that there are ministering spirits sent forth to minister to those who will inherit salvation. All this tells us there’s an awful lot going on all around us that we don’t have a clue about.
And what Joshua had to learn here was; he’d have to pay more attention to his spiritual life than he did to the military campaign because once he was focused on God then God would take care of the battle.
And the answer this warrior gives Joshua leaves him lying face down in the dust because He said, "I’m not on either side but as the commander of the armies of the Lord I’ve come." Now listen, this seems like a strange answer to a rather simple question because Joshua was the leader of the Jews and the people of Jericho were a bunch of unbelieving pagans. So, if the Jews were the chosen people then obviously God was on their side, right? Well, that idea fits in with our way of thinking but listen, God doesn’t always pick sides in a battle. You see, it’s not a case of God being on our side or the other but it’s a question of who is on His side because both sides can be against Him while they’re fighting each other.
So, basically He says, “I’m not here to take sides but to take over and take charge as Commander of the Lord’s army.”
Now, this is important because it lays down two principles that are foundational for all of life and particularly in our spiritual battles. And the first principle was that it wasn’t Joshua who was in charge, no matter how right or how holy he thought he was but he had to acknowledge that God was in charge. We get it all backwards and try to have God support us rather than our submitting to Him. This battle would be between God and the people of Jericho and all Joshua had to do was to do what he was told and then he’d see God move.
And then the second principle was that God would remind Joshua of both His personal presence and also His powerful provision. And here He was promising He’d supply him and the people with whatever they needed to get the job done.
In the last half of verse 14 we see his second question where it says, “And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and bowed down, and said to him, “What has my lord to say to his servant?” And this is a response of both worship and submission. He had probably been thinking this is my war and had a tremendous sense of responsibility on his shoulders but when he saw God standing there he might have remembered what Moses said years earlier as they stood on the banks of the Red Sea because he said, “The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”
What a comfort and an encouraging word because this tells us we don’t have to bear our burdens or face our enemies alone because we’re all soldiers in God’s army and He supplies not only the armor but He gives the victory as well.
Let me make this clear, God is not present to fight our battles or help in our causes or jump to our rescue when we get in trouble as though He were some kind of a genie in a bottle but as we see here the battles are His and our role is to serve Him, to do His will, to follow Him and trust Him for the outcome.
And when Joshua realized who He was talking to he asked: "What does my Lord say to His servant?” which is the same as saying, "What do you want me to do?” You see, he realized this is the Lord and he responds like Samuel who said, "Speak Lord for your servant is listening," or like Paul who said, "Lord what do you want me to do?" because I’m ready to do whatever you say.
And the Lord said, "Take your sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy." You see, before anybody can do anything for God they need to treat God as God and removing the sandals was a sign of servant-hood and it was also a sign of respect and submission. And to a degree, this was cultural because servants didn’t wear shoes and what he was doing was demonstrating that he was a servant. And a servant was someone who would do anything he was told to do.
So, before God would do anything for Joshua, Joshua had to understand that it was God who was in charge and that God is holy and the same is true with us because like Joshua we have to decide to do God’s will God’s way and then we’ll experience God working in our lives or we can just do our own thing and constantly experience frustration and defeat.
When God told him to remove his shoes His words remind us of Moses first meeting with God at the burning bush and I believe the similarity was meant to show Joshua that God promised to be with him the way He had been with Moses but He also expected Joshua to have the same attitude of respect and worship that Moses had.
It’s interesting to notice that both Moses and Joshua were eighty years old when they were told to remove their shoes in the presence of God. In our society they’d be considered to be at the end of the road but listen, God says, you’re never too old to serve Him and you’re never too old to get to know Him better. And so, at eighty they were both learning the fundamentals of the faith and both of them heard the same message. It was, "Take off your shoes the ground you’re standing on is holy." There was nothing special about the dirt they were standing on and there was probably nothing particularly dirty about their feet or sandals but God’s presence gave the ordinary surroundings extraordinary status.
I remember when Sally and I were travelling in Israel and you’re always wondering if you weren’t walking in the very places that Jesus and His disciples had walked some two thousand years before. And as you walk around with that thought in mind you can’t help but sense that the whole country is holy but the fact is, wherever God is speaking and people are listening that’s holy ground.
And do you know what the strange part of this and other accounts of where God appears is? It seems like every time someone saw God they fell down and worshipped.
In Job 42:5, he said, "I have heard of you by the hearing of the ear: but now my eye has seen you. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." You see, when Job saw God and he realized how sinful he was and he was horrified. And the same thing happens to Isaiah in Isaiah 6:5 he said, “Woe is me! For I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.” And then in Daniel 10:6, Daniel said, “His body also was like the beryl, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like in colour to polished brass, and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude. And I Daniel alone saw the vision: for the men that were with me saw not the vision; but a great quaking fell upon them, so that they fled to hide themselves. Therefore I was left alone, and saw this great vision, and there remained no strength in me: for my comeliness was turned in me into corruption, and I retained no strength." You see, like Job and Isaiah when Daniel saw God and he immediately became conscious of his own sinfulness. And then we have Peter in Luke 5:8 and 9. And it says, "When Simon Peter saw it, (referring to the great catch of fish) he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord. For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken." And again, Peter forgot the fish and became conscious of his own condition. And then we have John in Revelation 1:16, it says, “And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword: and His countenance was as the sun shines in his strength. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead."
Listen, the presence of God never results in anything but a consciousness of our sinfulness and submission to His will.
So, in both Moses and Joshua’s situation the place God appeared wasn’t unusual or out of the ordinary but it was God’s presence that was special. I remember someone once said, "Jesus wasn’t crucified in a cathedral between two candles but on a cross between two thieves. The place where He died was such a common thoroughfare that they had to write the charge above His head in three languages so that all who passed by could read it." So, where Joshua was standing wasn’t holy the day before and it wasn’t holy the day after but it was the presence of God that made it holy.
I see another parallel between Moses and Joshua’s experience and that’s that neither of them were involved in any spiritual actions when they met the Lord. I mean, they were simply doing their job. Moses was a shepherd and probably not overly excited about his job. A lot of Jews were shepherds in those days but keep in mind that although Moses was born a Jew he had been raised in the palaces of Egypt and as Genesis 46:24 says, "Shepherds are an abomination in the eyes of the Egyptians." So, he was doing something that everyone he grew up with thought was disgusting and when you think about it, leading sheep around the desert wasn’t exactly part of the lifestyles of the rich and famous. It was simply work and that’s what he was doing when he saw the burning bush.
And here, we see Joshua was preparing to lead the Israelites into battle against the Canaanites and it doesn’t say he was praying or seeking God’s direction but it just says he was there. And so, both of these men were found by God at a time when they weren’t actively seeking Him.
Conclusion
As we see these appearances of God and then read about the various miracles in the Bible, we might wonder if the age of miracles has passed or does God still the miraculous? I think God is still at work today but He does the miraculous for different reasons than He did during the establishment of either the old or new covenants. Many of the Biblical miracles were to either establish the credibility of the prophets or the ministry of the apostles but today God does the miraculous simply to meet the needs of His people.
God wants to do three supernatural things for every one of us.
1. Save us. It may not sound like a supernatural act but it’s something that none of us can do for ourselves. He completely takes away the penalty of sin by transferring it to Jesus.
2. Sanctify us. He wants to cleanse us and free us from the power of sin. Too many Christians are living under the bondage of sin simply because they’ve never allowed God to do for them what they cannot do for themselves and we only begin to experience the power of cleansing from sin as we spend time in God’s presence and get a sense of His holiness. The closer we get to Him the farther we’ll want to be from sin. His holiness has a transforming effect on our lives.
So God saves us by His power and He separates us from sin as we spend time with Him and His word and He also sustains us in this life by providing our every need.
3. In the book of James it says, "You have not because you ask not." I believe God wants to meet our needs but He wants us to bring those needs to Him. Maybe the reason we have so many needs in the first place is to bring us into a deeper relationship with Him.
In one of Andre Crouche’s songs he said, "If I never had a problem, I’d never know that God could solve them." I used to think that God allowed us to have certain needs so we’d learn to be dependant on Him but the fact is we are always dependant on Him but we don’t always recognize it.
I believe that God wants to prove Himself today just like He did to the children of Israel and I believe He would do a lot more if we would just learn to bring our every need to Him. So whatever your problems are today whether they’re spiritual, financial, physical or emotional God wants to meet you and provide your needs. But you need to need to bring them to Him and realize as Joshua did that God is in control and that He is holy and the implication of this is that we are to be holy even as He is holy.
And listen, this is important, God wants us to do something for Him before we die. After all, that’s why we’re all still here. I mean, if He had nothing for us to do He would have taken us all right to heaven the moment we were saved.
Someone wrote, “First, I was dying to finish high school and start college. And then I was dying to finish college and start working. And then I was dying to get married and have children. And then I was dying for my children to grow old enough for school so I could return to work. And then I was dying to retire. And now…. I’m dying and suddenly I realize I forgot to live.”
You see, this is why it’s so important that we let God have first place in our lives because when God is first He can change us to be who He wants us to be and then He can use us to touch the lives of others.
I heard a story and it’s a true story about a teacher by the name of Miss Thompson and she taught grade four. One year she had a young boy by the name of Teddy Stallard and she said he was a slow, poorly dressed student, he was also a loner who was ignored by his the rest of the class. The records showed that his mother had died the previous year and what little motivation for school he may have had was gone. Miss Thompson didn’t particularly care for Teddy anymore than the others but she didn’t show it and at Christmas time he like the other students brought her a present. Her desk was covered with well-wrapped gifts from the other kids but Teddy’s was in a brown paper bag. When she opened it, she found a gaudy rhinestone bracelet with half the stones missing and a bottle of cheap perfume.
The children all began to laugh but Miss Thompson saw the importance of the moment and she quickly splashed on some perfume and put on the bracelet, pretending Teddy had given her something special. And all the kids didn’t understand it but they all reacted by telling her the bracelet looked nice and the perfume smelled good too.
At the end of the day Teddy worked up enough courage to softly say, "Miss Thompson, you smell just like my mother . . . and her bracelet looks real pretty on you too. I’m glad you like my presents." After Teddy left, Miss Thompson got down on her knees and prayed for God’s forgiveness. She prayed for God to use her as she sought to not only teach these children but to love them as well. And as a result of her experience, she became a new teacher. She lovingly helped students like Teddy, and by the end of the year he had caught up with most of the students.
Miss Thompson didn’t hear from Teddy for a long time. Then she received this note: "Dear Miss Thompson, I wanted you to be the first to know. I will be graduating high school second in my class. Love, Teddy Stallard." Four years later she got another note: "Dear Miss Thompson, they just told me I will be graduating first in my class. I wanted you to be the first to know. The university has not been easy, but I liked it. Love, Teddy Stallard." Four years later she got another letter that said: "Dear Miss Thompson, as of today, I am Theodore Stallard, M.D. How about that? I wanted you to be the first to know. I am getting married next month. I want you to come and sit where my mother would sit if she were alive. You are the only family I have now; dad died last year. Love, Teddy Stallard." Miss Thompson went to the wedding and sat where Teddy’s mother would have sat, because she let God use her as an instrument of encouragement.
Listen, we don’t have to go to the jungles overseas to be used by God. Anyone of us can be an encouragement to anyone who needs it. So, what about you? Are you willing to let God use you to be an encouragement to someone else?
