LIGHTS’…CAMERA…ACTION!!!
No, not your run-of-the mill Hollywood flick, coming your way, but something infinitely better. Hang on, I would come to the point but firstly…amazing thing about the Bible, is that several things which occurred in the New dispensation of grace were either prophesied directly or portrayed through symbolic events in the OT times. Take the prophecy of “Redeemer” Moses (used of God to redeem the Jews from the Egyptian bondage) for instance who prophesied that the Almighty would raise up a similar Prophet like him (Deuteronomy 18:15-18). We see Jesus not applying that Prophecy to himself (John 5:45-46) but also by His action of offering Himself as a vicarious sacrifice on the Cross, He paved the way for redemption of not just one nation but for that of entire fallen mankind.
Boy, there are some more similarities between Moses and Jesus. At their birth there was a slaughter of innocent babies (the Almighty who said vengeance is mine-Romans 12:19- avenged it by killing of Egyptian male children on the Passover night –Exodus 12:29-and by bringing about an excruciating death of King Herod due to bowel disease, a historical fact validated by writings of Jewish historians like Josephus). Continuing with the similarities… both Moses and Jesus were rejected by Jews in their “First coming” (Exodus 2:13-15/John 1:11), and both their lives are covered in precisely 4 Books…if Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy cover the life and Ministry of Moses, then the four Gospels penned by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John cover that of Jesus.
Now in the Post-Pentecostal week, during which we focus usually on the Book of Acts, do we see a similar Book-full of action- in the OT Dispensation, which symbolizes it. Oh yes we do. Book of Joshua perfectly fits the bill!!! Welcome to the comparative study of Books of Joshua and Acts (virtually Siamese twins of OT and NT times). In the initial part of my message, I would be training the spotlight on the lessons from the positive events, we can derive from this comparative study and in the latter part, I would reflect on the lessons from the both negative and positive events described in these two wonderful “action-packed” Books, which are not a result of some fertile imagination but Divine inspiration, bearing not fiction but FACTS.
So let’s fasten our seat-belts for the Flight of ethereal edification. Take over Captain Holy Spirit...
LOCATION…
The Books of Joshua and Acts begin exactly where the earthly Ministries of two great Redeemers (Moses and Jesus) end. In the Canon, we see the Book of Joshua placed immediately after Deuteronomy where we see Moses finishing His Ministry (Deuteronomy 34:7-12) and Acts begins immediately after John’s Gospel (the only Gospel, which records the triumphant cry of Jesus on completing the Redemption plan on the Cross…IT IS FINISHED…John 19:30).
PREPARATION…
If the main protagonist-Joshua- in the Book of Joshua (the Book bears his name) was trained by Moses for good 40 years , then the Apostles of Christ –the heroes’ of faith – in the Book of Acts were intensely trained by Jesus for three and half years. Oh how wonderful it is to be mentored by a faithful, God-fearing leader …for we have an opportunity of seeing first-hand and inculcating the God-honoring virtues conspicuous in them, which would stand us in good stead , when we launch into our own Ministries at the time the Almighty says “GO”.
Broadly speaking, is not any God-honoring Ministry, more of a relay race than an individual race run for self-glory. Throughout Scripture, many a time we see God wanting the leaders’ of a generation to pass on the baton to those younger ones’ whom, they had carefully nurtured. Elsewhere in Scripture too, do not we see this wonderful pattern emerging in the case of Elijah-Elisha…Paul-Timothy…
Animated cartoon of a relay race...
QUALIFICATION...
It is said that God doesn’t call the qualified but qualifies the called. Joshua who succeeded Moses was not that great leader’s biological son but rather was hand-picked by the Almighty out of His grace alone to replace Moses (Numbers 27:12-23). Cannot the same be said of the Jesus’ disciples? They had no scholarly achievements in their CV nor did they have any great power in themselves but the good Lord out of His grace alone hand-picked them (Matt 4:18-22/I Cor 15:9-10), in the same way He out of His Grace cured Naaman the Syrian leper at a time other Jewish lepers needing help were there (Luke 4:27) or for that matter the way he cured a paralytic at a time other sick people were there by the Bethesda pool (John 5:1-9). So all the “successful” servants of God would be well-served to divert the public attention to the ONE who has given them success in the first place out of His grace alone!!!
Once, the Almighty picks His servants, He not only boosts their MORALE by assuring them of His constant presence at all times (Joshua 1:5/Matt 28:20) but He also expects them to maintain high MORALITY (Joshua 1:8). Do you see Joshua or the Apostles ever slipping on the morality front? No way. Then as day follows night, their personal holiness assured and ensured… there would be no disruption of Divine anointing power flowing in and through them at any time. If for Joshua the anointing set him apart as an undisputed leader (Joshua 4:14), then the Pentecostal anointing on the Disciples set them apart as special vessels to evangelize the whole world (Acts 1:8).
DOMINATION…
None could stand up against Joshua and his armies ditto the same with the Apostles. If the good Lord crowned every military expedition of Joshua in the Conquest of Canaan with success, He did the same in the case of the “SPIRITUAL EXPEDITION” of the Apostles too even as they turned the World “upside down” (or should I say they turned the World which was upside down spiritually, the right side up… Acts 17:6 KJV). How true is the popular saying God plus one is a majority rooted as it is in the Scripture…if the Lord is on our side, who can be against us (Romans 8:31).
Display of animated maps showing the march of Joshua’s army during the Conquest of Canaan and the Missionary Journeys’ of the Apostles...
SENSATION…
Miracles wrought through Joshua (Joshua 6:20/10:12-14) created sensation in his day, by the same token amazing miracles of the Apostles (God working through them-Acts 5:15-16)) left both friends and foes of the Early Church stunned. In the Christian context, here it has to be said that signs are for unbelievers (I Cor 14:22). Miracles ought to be done with the sole purpose of bringing glory to God even while attracting unbelievers for eventual wholesome spiritual transformation cum healing which is eternal in nature. Let every Christian minister aspire to be an Apostle exercising every gift of the Holy Spirit by doing signs and wonders (2 Cor 12:12), even while accepting the fact that it is the Almighty who alone decides on whom to confer which gift (I Cor 12).
TO BE FAIR SOME NEGATIVE INCIDENTS ARE ALSO FAITHFULLY RECORDED IN BOTH THE BOOKS OF JOSHUA AND ACTS. PRAISE GOD, WE CAN LEARN FROM THEM TOO-1 COR 10:11. FIRSTLY…
RETRIBUTION…
Oh yes, there was Achan, who grossly underestimated the omniscience of God, even as greed held sway in his life (Joshua 7) and there were Ananias and Sapphira who too took God’s omniscience lightly even while being swayed by that very same lure of the lucre (Acts 5:1-11). The result? A swift retribution sending the guilty ones’ to an early grave!!! With folded hands, let me plead (I am speaking to myself too) a casual attitude towards God in matters of public obedience can make one a casualty (Leviticus 10:1)!!! Some creative wording in this para ought not to mask the seriousness of the issue involved.
COMMOTION…
Oh how much of confusion and commotion Joshua and his co-leaders could have avoided by seeking God’s counsel in matter of entering into a peace pact with the guileful Gibeonites (Joshua 9:1-20), similarly how much of commotion, could Paul and Barnabas have avoided by praying for Almighty’s guidance in the matter of deciding of taking John Mark or not in their second missionary journey (Acts 15:36-39). However sadly they let their personal egos’ get the better of them. It is quite another story that the good Lord used even the lapses of great leaders’ for bringing greater glory to Himself. If not for peace pact with the Gibeonites, eventually that great miracle of the Almighty stopping the sun and the moon in its tracks would not have come about (Joshua 10), similarly but for the parting of ways of Paul and Barnabas, Gospel could not have reached all those places where it was not preached hitherto, with these estranged leaders going in different directions now (Acts 15:39-41). Fast forward to Colossians 4:10, do not we see patching-up of differences?
All said and done, the lesson to be learnt here is, whenever confronted by tricky situations, it would serve the Church leaders better to look prayerfully unto the Lord rather than acting hastily and then repenting at leisure.
DISCRIMINATION…
In the Book of Joshua, nearing the end we see the Trans-Jordan tribes (with genuine motives) coming up with an alternate altar location (permit me some alliteration) which led to an altercation between them and other tribes (Joshua 22:10-30). Originally the Brazen altar for offering of the sacrifices was there at Shiloh (Joshua 18:1) as a part of the Revered tabernacle. But the Trans-Jordan tribes whilst going to occupy their land on the Eastern side of River Jordan after a 14 year “Conquest of Canaan” with an honest intention had constructed yet another altar resembling the Brazen one hoping it would “unalterably” serve as a “memorial of their Jewish antecedents for all posterity”.
However, their motives were not sought initially and the other tribes simply wanted to wipe em’ out for “blasphemy”. Fortunately wiser counsel prevailed eventually and their motives behind such a “brazen action” of coming up with a replica of the Brazen altar were sought. When God-honoring reasons were doled out by these tribes at the receiving end of accusations, the anger of the other nine and half tribes was pacified. Similarly knives and daggers were out when the pre-dominantly Jewish Early Church in Jerusalem heard that Peter had visited a “gentile home” of Cornelius (Acts 11:1-3). However, calm and tactful handling of the situation by wise Peter made his critics realize the folly of their ways (Acts 11:14-18).
Dear Christian friends, do we also on “slightest suspicion” of immorality/wrong-doing by our fellow brethren sound our “war buglers” or do we care to thoroughly check-out the facts first (I Tim 5:19) before taking public action.
COMING BACK TO LESSONS FROM SOLELY POSITIVE EVENTS…
GLORIFICATION...
Joshua never took the glory for the mighty deeds wrought through him nor did the Apostles. Nearing the end of his life, in his rousing farewell message Joshua makes a proclamation giving glory where it is due…
“The LORD has driven out before you great and powerful nations; to this day no one has been able to withstand you. One of you routs a thousand, because the LORD your God fights for you, just as he promised. So be very careful to love the LORD your God.-Joshua 23:9-10
By the same token, consider this Scripture culled from Acts 14. After their first missionary journey what did Paul and Barnabas do?
On arriving there, they gathered the church together and reported all that God had done through them and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles vs 27.
At the end of his third missionary journey too, Paul sings the same song
Paul greeted them and reported in detail what God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry Acts 21:19
When it comes to evaluation of our God-ordained Ministries toeing the Pauline line would serve us well…
But whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out his special favor on me—and not without results. For I have worked harder than any of the other apostles; yet it was not I but God who was working through me by his grace.-I Cor 15:10
DEDICATION…
IF JOSHUA AND HIS GENERATION WERE FAITHFUL TILL THE END, SO WERE THE APOSTLES.
Even at the cost of sounding repetitive, I would like to reiterate here that all throughout his life, barring a minor blip here and there (for which he cannot be wholly blamed…like falling for the Gibeonites’ guile) Joshua who stepped into the huge shoes of Moses was an exemplary leader. He led the tiring conquest of Canaan, literally and figuratively speaking “from the front”. Not for him, the cool shade of a tent, faraway from the blazing war front (Joshua 6-12) when his soldiers were shedding their blood and sweat in fighting the enemies. No wonder then, even towards the end of his life we see him coming up with an exemplary, emphatic statement in his rousing swan song speech “…as for me and my family, we will serve THE LORD” (Joshua 24:15)! Leading from the front and setting an example was this great leader, even as it were, with his dying breath (he would die very soon Joshua 24:29)! Die, he did soon, BUT ARE NOT HIS WORDS IMMORTALISED IN THAT THEY ADORN THE ROOMS OF INNUMERABLE CHRISTIAN HOMES EVEN TODAY ENSHRINED INVARIABLY IN A SCENIC PLAQUE? What would be Joshua’s declaration, had he been living today? Do not regard my words as those making up a mere decorative ornament, rather TAKE EM’ SERIOUSLY!
“I have fought the good fight…” (II Tim 4:7), oh how this proclamation of victory by Apostle Paul in the last leg of his earthly journey, still continues to inspire us!!! Not for him any shedding of cold sweat, with execution imminent, rather only expression of concern for the fledgling Churches he had planted. In his final epistle to his young disciple Timothy, we see him exhorting his protégé to follow the example of a soldier, an athlete, and a farmer - 2 Tim 2:3-7 -passionately in Christian service! Do not Paul’s Final words heralding victory still continue to challenge us…. even after two thousand years…with the truth that the END IN THE SPIRITUAL RACE IS AS IMPORTANT AS THE START, especially when we consider the grim reality, just a few verses away ….the fall of Paul’s associate in the Ministry namely Demas (II Tim 4:10), who had made a good start (Col 4:14, Philemon 1:24)?
Brothers aspire to inspire, even while you expire…because if you do that, rest assured, you would continue to inspire long after you expire.
Suresh Manoharan
ps...Replete with pics/animations/maps this sermon can also be accessed at the following URL
http://www.jandsmministries.com/message_june1_12.asp
