Dear Friends,
Joshua 7 – The Barrier sin causes.
I remember once in secondary school I had my tie stolen during a swimming lesson. No one would own up to stealing it. The teacher asked for the return of the tie but no one stepped forward. Now there were about three classes swimming that day. The teachers went through each class and asked each person to bring their tie up – unbeknown to the boy who had stolen my tie my mum had written my name on it in indelible ink. Well the culprit was soon found and the tie was returned. In this passage we have a similar story from the book of Joshua. Chapter 6 has ended on a great note of victory and triumph. The people of Israel have captured Jericho and in 6.27 we read ‘that God was with Joshua as He was with Moses.’ The people of Israel are soon brought back down to earth.
Let me firstly give you the structure of the passage because that will help us to see where we are going:
Verse 1 God’s wrath is turned towards Israel
V’s 2-5 Disaster for Israel.
V’s 6-9 Leaders before God.
V’s 10-12a – The problem is revealed by God.
V 12 – mid-point in the chapter.
V’s 13-15 – the solution is revealed by God.
V’s 16-23 – Israel before God.
V’s 24-26b - Disaster for Achan.
V 26b – God’s wrath is turned away from Israel.
Now I do not know if you noticed but the one thread running right through this chapter is God’s anger or wrath at sin. We encounter it in verse 1 and we encounter it again at the end in verse 26. The wrath of God at sin encapsulates the whole chapter, it forms brackets around the other 24 verses of the chapter. So let us look a little more closely at the chapter.
God’s wrath is emphasised – Verses 1- 5.
In 618 Israel was instructed by God that when they had captured Jericho they were not to keep any plunder because it was all to be devoted to the Lord God. In verse 1 we read that they disobeyed this – by the end of the chapter we will become aware that it was Achan who had disobeyed this command of God. Joshua at this point is totally unaware of this fact and he sends out spies to spy out Ai the next city to be captured. They report back that a large army is not needed to capture such a place. I want you to note that we do not read anywhere in these first five verses that Joshua or the people sought the face of God in prayer about this battle – their pride at the victory over Jericho and a presumption that they would win again led them to attack Ai – the result a resounding defeat. In fact the very words used to describe the heart of the people of Canaan at the defeat of Jericho is now used to describe the people of Israel – their hearts were like water.
Verses 6-12 Joshua before the Lord God.
Well we read that Joshua now seeks God’s face in prayer for this defeat. Notice will you the despairing cries of Joshua to God in verse 7. Not a cry of disbelief but a cry of despair. Joshua complains to God but not at God. He has no one else to turn to in this situation for an answer. He is completely mystified why after the promise of 310 and 627 the people of Israel have now been defeated. Notice too will you that Joshua’s concern is for the Name of the Lord God before the nations of the world. He is not concerned with his own glory but the glory of the Lord God. Do we have a similar concern when we are defeated? Is our concern with our own hurt pride or with the name of the Lord when we fall into sin and are defeated?
In verses 10-12 God reveals the reason for the defeat at Ai – the people have sinned before Him. God reveals sin in the midst of His people. He points out to Joshua that the people of God cannot win victories, cannot stand before their enemies if there is sin in their midst. Then at the end of verse 12 comes the threat which must have sent a shiver of fear down not only Joshua’s spine but also the spine of every Israelite - 12b. God had promised to go with the people of Israel. In Exodus 3315-16 Moses would not go forward unless God went with him. God had promised Joshua He would be with him but here God is threatening to remove His presence. That is a dreadful and fearful thing – the removal of God’s presence from His people. The reality of this is that they would cease to be His people. They would just be like any other nation around about them. But God in His mercy gives them a solution to the problem of this sin in their midst.
Verses 12b – 15 – God tells Joshua that the people have kept some of the devoted things from Jericho. He calls the people to be consecrated again because He is going to do a special thing in their midst. God is going to reveal to all of the people the one who has sinned. I want you to note too that God says in verse 15 that this sin is so serious it is a breaking of the covenant of Sinai. The NIV leaves out the for/because of verse 15 but it actually explains the reason for the sin being so serious in the eyes of God. The breaking of the covenant of Sinai – the breaking of the covenant which bound God and His people together was no light thing.
Verses 16 – 26 The severity of God’s wrath. Joshua calls the people before God tribe by tribe and the tribe of Judah was chosen, then clan by clan and the Zerahites were chosen, then family by family and Zimri was chosen and finally man by man and Achan was chosen. At no point up till now has Achan confessed his sin or shown any remorse or repentance. We can take it from this that up till now he was hoping to escape detection. But you cannot hide sin from God. God searches tribe by tribe, clan by clan, family by family and individual by individual – the thoroughness of God’s cleansing is seen here. Achan then does confess his sin when he is confronted by Joshua but note will you that he calls it ‘plunder’ and not ‘devoted things’ – even now he is not willing to admit the things he stole belong to God. It is a dreadful thing to steal but to steal from God. Well what can we say? The result is that Achan and his family and all his possessions are destroyed on the instruction of God. Now to you and I it appears harsh and dreadful punishment. But can I point out to you the reason for this punishment is that God is angry at sin. You and I are not as angry at sin as He is, we do not get offended by it as He does. We tolerate and accept it, sometimes even embrace it but God will not have it in His presence. The destruction of Achan is an example to all the people for all time of the consequences of sin and of God’s wrath at sin. It is actually a picture of the last judgement. Immediately after the sin of Achan has been dealt with the people of God capture Ai.
Application.
So what do you and I learn from chapter 7 of Joshua.
1. The reality of defeat in the Christian life. Israel was defeated because they did not seek God’s face in prayer, because they were presumptuous, because they had sin in their midst and they tolerated it. You and I cannot hope to be victorious as Christians if we do the same.
2. The root cause of a defeated life is sin against God. To live our lives our way and not God’s way, to resist God’s way, God’s will, God’s Word and God’s Spirit are all causes of defeat in our spiritual life. Achan took the things which belonged only to God and it had dreadful and eternal consequences. Achan had his eyes on the temporal when they should have been on the eternal. He disobeyed the direct command of God and then sought to hide his sin. The result was defeat at Ai – the result in our lives if we do the same – defeat.
3. The Remedy for spiritual defeat – confession and repentance of the sin. We see from chapter 7 that God truly discovers us – nothing is hidden from Him, all will be revealed. When God reveals sin in our lives or in the life of our fellowship it must be dealt with – not tolerated, not accepted and not condoned. If it is then like the people of Israel we will know only defeat.
Sin must be solved. In the day of Joshua it was solved by punishing the guilty, Achan. Thankfully for us the innocent, the guiltless was punished that we the guilty might go free. On the cross Christ paid the penalty for our sin, He took our punishment. We acquire forgiveness when we confess our sin and repent of it before God. Then and then only will we know victory in our lives and in the life of our church family at Holy Trinity. Without it we will continue to know defeat and one day we will be punished for our sins. Philippians 29-11 tells us that one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Some will bend in adoration and praise to their Saviour. Others will bend in fear and trembling before their judge. Why will you bend your knee on that day?
Learn from this account of Achan – confess your sin and repent. If you do not then know that God is angry at your sin and it has dreadful consequences. But know also that if you confess your sin and repent God is faithful and just and will cleanse you from all unrighteousness. That is the good news of Jesus Christ
Yours in Christ Rev Dr Alan McCann
