Conquering Jericho
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
By Pastor James May
Joshua 6:1 Now Jericho was straitly shut up because of the children of Israel: none went out, and none came in.
Joshua 6:2 And the LORD said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valour.
Joshua 6:3 And ye shall compass the city, all ye men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days.
Joshua 6:4 And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams' horns: and the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets.
Joshua 6:5 And it shall come to pass, that when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him.
In the familiar story of the conquering of the city of Jericho we can often find something that will relate to us right where we live. This story is all about the Children of Israel entering into their Promised Land which was declared by God to be a land that flowed with milk and honey, and a land that God had promised to Abraham and his seed forever. But this land wasn’t going to be theirs without having to face some difficult times and some strong opposition.
In the same fashion, as we are born again by the Spirit of God and become a part of the family of God, we too inherit the promises of God. God’s promises are true and unfailing, but how often do we fall short of obtaining those promises. I submit to you that it is never the fault of God that we fall short. The fault always lies with us; with our lack of obedience; or perhaps a lack of commitment; or a lace of faith and maybe a lack of trust. There is no doubt that we could ever reach that high calling in the Lord where we no longer are lacking in any area of our lives spiritually, that we could not attain unto every one of the promises in God’s Word. That is what we strive for. That is what we pray for. There is no doubt in my mind that every member of this church loves the Lord and would want to be perfect in His sight. There is also no doubt in my mind that every one of falls short in some way or another.
Nevertheless the pattern for defeating the enemy and bringing down the walls that stand in your way to obtaining God’s promises are here, in this well known story of the walls of Jericho as they come crashing down.
A lot of the problems that we bring upon ourselves stems from the fact that we just grow weary of marching and we are unable to see much forward progress. With rare exceptions, the battles that you face in overcoming habits, sins and weaknesses in your life will be long, drawn out and extended battles. It is those rare few who can overcome those things in their lives without a protracted fight.
Some battle with smoking, some with profanity, others with any one of a myriad type of addiction; and some fight every day with demonic oppression that all stems from the remnants of the life from which we were delivered. Though we are made into a new creation in Christ, yet some of the old things of the past are hard to shake off. Some of the things we do in the flesh will not be changed quite so easily and their effect on us may be felt in this unregenerated flesh for a long time. You see, your heart, soul and spirit are born again and they are washed in the Blood of the Lamb and made righteous, but this old body of flesh is still bound by the effects of sin and that won’t change until we can finally lay this old body down and then rise again in that new glorified body.
Some Christians have fought that battle so long that they are to the point that they are ready to give up the fight. They use those scriptures that talk about Paul’s thorn in the flesh, and then resign themselves to believe that this certain problem, whatever it might be, must be their thorn in the flesh to keep them humble. Perhaps it is, only God knows. But not every thing that besets us and keeps us from obtaining deliverance is really a thorn in the flesh. It’s just something that must be overcome through trust, faith and obedience to the call of God and the Word of the Lord. In God’s time, and in His way, it can and will be overcome. Meanwhile we are to just keep on keeping on and never quit trying.
How long will you continue to fight the battle? How long do you plan on marching? For seven days the Children of Israel marched around that city and for all of their effort and energy spent, it seemed that nothing was happening. The city still stood before them as strong as ever. 36 trips around the walls Jericho in the hot sun, dust and putting up with the jeering defenders upon the wall and nothing changed except they got tired and wondered if God would really answer their need to defeat this enemy that stood between them and their inheritance.
According to some scholars, only the Lord and Joshua knew what was really going on. The rest of the Israelites only followed orders. They went on the word of Joshua and Joshua is a type of Jesus Christ for the church of today. Nowhere in this story does the Bible say that God spoke to all of Israel. He only spoke to Joshua, then Joshua gave the orders to move.
12 trips around the wall and it was still there – how many times have you faced down that same temptation; that same enemy, and he still jeers at you and pricks at your spirit; and causes you to wonder just how long it will be before God sends the deliverance you seek after?
On Monday morning they marched – (Buckskin Bill used to have the Monday morning march) but this was quite different. They began at first light, gathered their belongings, put on their garments, combed their hair and off to the wall. It was exciting the first time around because it was something new and it beat sitting around the camp worrying about what was going to happen next. Sometimes it’s better to move, even if you aren’t sure where you are going or what you are doing, than to sit and brood over what might happen.
It’s kind of like two old buzzards that are sitting on a cow skull in the desert. They were thin, beat up, bruised and missing a lot of feathers. They appeared to be nearly dead themselves. Let’s call them Gertrude and Heclipse. I always liked those names ever since the days of the old comedian named Red Skelton. After sitting on that skull for several days, just waiting, Heclipse finally looks over at Gertrude and says, “Phooey on waiting for something to come along and die. Let’s go find something to kill.” Gertrude looks back at him and says, “Now Heclipse, don’t you remember how we lost all these feathers? That desert mouse put up a pretty good fight and whipped us both. I don’t think we had better try to take on an ox.”
The entire army, little more than a ragtag, motley crew of Israelites, poorly armed at best, with little or no armor, lined up, each one carrying whatever weapon he could find or make. Most went before the ark to protect it from any attacks that the men of Jericho might be brave enough to attempt. After them, in this parade, came the “marching band”, blowing their trumpets, after that came the priests carrying the ark, and finally following the ark came the rear guard, to protect the ark in case of an attack from behind.
In the eyes of a hardened enemy this strange army may not have seemed like much of a threat. They had so siege engines, none of those towers that brought attackers to the top of the wall, not even so much as a battering ram. All they had was swords, spears, bows and arrows and trumpets. But boy they could march. The steady trump, trump, trump of the foot soldiers was enough to drive the enemy batty.
But it was not their weaponry or their fighting skills, or their skilled marching abilities, that had the people of Jericho worried; it was the rumors of what the God of the Israelites could do. The fear of God had preceded them and the people of Jericho knew that the powerful army of the Egyptian Pharoah had been wiped out without the shooting of a single arrow. it was this fear of the unknown; the fear of Israel’s God that had them shut up tight and afraid to move.
2 Corinthians 10:4-5, "(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;"
The Children of Israel finished their march on Monday afternoon and went back to camp. It had been a long day and they had been doing just exactly what God’s will was for them to do, but nothing changed.
Then came Tuesday, and the same thing happened; then Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. (it could have been other days of course and probably was, but for the sake of my sermon let’s just call it Mon – Sat) Every day it was the same thing. I wonder if the army didn’t feel like they were in a rut? I wonder if they wondered, “Is this all there is? What else? How many times are we going to have to go around again before God does something? I’m tired of this walking around in circles. Let’s attack them now!” But Joshua said no! Be quiet, march in your place, blow the trumpets, carry the ark – do what I command you to do and have faith.
Does your life seem that way? God, I have been this way so many times before. I need a change. I’ve failed this temptation; failed this test so many times. Please help me to overcome it. And all you hear is, “The Just shall walk by faith.” Jesus and the Word says just keep walking. The victory will come in due time if you faint not.
Then came the seventh day. On this day the army is assembled well before daylight, much earlier than usual. They march out, perhaps with a little grumbling and complaining about having to get up so early, missing breakfast, and having to march in the dark. Oh, well, at least its only once more around the city and we can get back early.
But after the first trip, they started around again. Oh no, not overtime! I was ready to go back to camp. What’s the deal Joshua? Why are we marching again? But Joshua said, “Forward March” and off they went, six times around the walls. I wonder how much more grumbling, complaining and murmuring went on in the ranks. Did Joshua really know what he was doing? What are we planning to do; march Jericho’s defenders to death; deafen them with our trumpets blaring; dazzle them with our tremendous weaponry; or just wear them out and make them give up because they are tired of seeing us march? This is no way to win a battle. Let’s attack them and get it over with!
The worst part was that nobody could say anything. The command of Joshua was to keep absolute silence in the ranks. They couldn’t even complain or grumble out loud. Let that be a lesson to us. If we have something to complain or grumble about, keep it to yourself or take it to the complaint department. You can find the window right here at this altar. Jesus is there to hear your complaint and he’s the only one who can do anything about it. Don’t be surprised though if you walk away feeling like you’ve been given a spiritual reprimand for mistrust. God doesn’t like it when His people grumble and complain. It proves a lack of faith and trust in God’s ability to lead.
After 12 trips around, and six trips on this day, they were ordered to go once more around the walls. Now we know that Joshua has lost his mind – we’ve been here 12 times and nothing has happened, and now he wants to make it 13. Doesn’t he know that 13 is an unlucky number.
Maybe they could have been like so many Christians in the church today that believe in luck or in coincidence. That’s a fatalistic point of view and not one for a true Believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Psalms 37:23-24, "The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand."
Nothing comes into your life as a Christian by accident. There is no such thing as coincidence. It may seem so to you, but this verse tells us that every step we take is ordered by the Lord. Whatever happens, whenever it happens and however it happens is all in God’s control. Now, if we step out of God’s will, that’s another whole different story. But as long as we are walking with the Lord, your walk will be ordered and you can feel secure in Christ.
At the end of their 13th march around the city, the army of Israel came to a halt before the city walls. There was silence in the ranks. The trumpets ceased and the only sound you could hear was the wind. The silence was deafening.
I am reminded of the vision that John saw of the Revelation and how that just before the wrath of God was poured out in earnest, there was a silence in Heaven, as all of Heaven stood in awe of the power of God that was about to be manifested. In this scene of Jericho, there is silence for a moment.
As they stood in place, facing the walls of Jericho for that brief moment of silence, I wonder what the soldiers might have thought. “This is it. Now we get to attack. Prepare yourself now and get ready for a fight to the death.” They took hold of their weapons, took an attack stance, but the order to attack never came. Instead, Joshua said, “Now shout to Lord. Praise the God of Heaven. Shout for the victory! Blow the trumpets! We shall overcome! The victory is ours!” What, we aren’t going to attack? Are we just going to shout them to death?
But the command was to shout and shout they did – a song of praise, and a shout of victory. That is your command from God Almighty – shout to Lord all you people, sing praises to your King; the battle is not yours; it’s the Lord’s!
The army gave a shout! The trumpets of the Lord blared announcing that the time of God’s attack was begun and suddenly the ground began to shake! I don’t know if there was an earthquake, or if the stones just crumbled as God pressed his finger on the top from Heaven. Some scholars say that the ground opened up and that the walls fell straight down so that the ground was leveled around the city. Others say that the foundations crumbled and the walls fell creating piles of crushed bricks that were easy to walk over. Since most of the defenders of the city were on that wall, it is likely that there were few of them left after the wall fell. Most lay buried or dead in the rubble. The scriptures say that the Israelites were able to walk strait forward into the city from where they stood with nothing there to slow them down. Jericho was won without even so much as a single arrow from the army of the Children of Israel.
That’s how your battle must be won as well. You have no power to overcome the devil. You cannot resist temptation and sin on your own. Your weapons are useless against the powers of darkness. We must depend upon God and let him fight our battles
I was listening to the testimony of Mike Reed again a few days ago and he made it a point to say that when he asked Jesus into his life that he had addictions that he could not break. He had seen too many people try to break drug addiction; and he had seen nearly all of them fail. They would keep trying but never succeed and finally some would take their own lives, seeking for some kind of release from the power of those drugs.
Mike said that he has just finished shooting up with a needle and that he was as high as he could be when it came to his mind and spirit to ask God for deliverance. “God, if you’ll take away the desire, I will never touch drugs again. I can’t fight it. I can’t win. But you can.” In that instant Mike was forever set free from drugs. He threw them all away, flushing them down the drain and never touched them again.
Israel won the battle without a fight. It was God’s victory, not theirs.
Joshua 6:20 So the people shouted when the priests blew with the trumpets: and it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city.
So if you are here tonight and you’ve been fighting all sorts of things that seem to take away your victory in the Lord, or you have that little thorn in the flesh that keeps you from enjoying the abundant life that the Bible promises; then don’t give up! Keep on marching for Jesus. Keep on serving the Lord. I don’t know how many times you’ll have to march around that thing before you overcome it, but overcome it you will with God’s help.
The battle is the Lord’s, not yours. In the fullness of time and in God’s own way, the victory will come.
That number seven, we all know, means that God’s plan for victory was complete. Is this your seventh time around? Will it be the next one? We just have to keep walking by faith, trusting in the Lord and obeying his Word. When God’s path is complete and when his will is fulfilled in your walk with the Lord, surely victory will come. Like the Children of Israel, when that day comes that God tears down those walls that are keeping you from obtaining the promise, you will walk over them like they were not there.
God will give you the victory if you’ll just keep marching, keep shouting and keep blowing those trumpets, called vocal cords, for Him. Your wall will come tumbling down.
