Note:Glory Days by Max Lucado was used as a reference.
Title: When the Walls Fall
Theme: To show how to get the walls to fall.
Text: Joshua 5: 6:1 -20
Prayer Time:
Offering
Introduction
Read Joshua
Joshua 6:1-20 Now Jericho was securely shut up because of the children of Israel; none went out, and none came in. (2) And the Lord said to Joshua: "See! I have given Jericho into your hand, its king, and the mighty men of valor. (3) You shall march around the city, all you men of war; you shall go all around the city once. This you shall do six days. (4) And seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark. But the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. (5) It shall come to pass, when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, that all the people shall shout with a great shout; then the wall of the city will fall down flat. And the people shall go up every man straight before him." (6) Then Joshua the son of Nun called the priests and said to them, "Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark of the Lord." (7) And he said to the people, "Proceed, and march around the city, and let him who is armed advance before the ark of the Lord." (8) So it was, when Joshua had spoken to the people, that the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams' horns before the Lord advanced and blew the trumpets, and the ark of the covenant of the Lord followed them. (9) The armed men went before the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rear guard came after the ark, while the priests continued blowing the trumpets. (10) Now Joshua had commanded the people, saying, "You shall not shout or make any noise with your voice, nor shall a word proceed out of your mouth, until the day I say to you, 'Shout!' Then you shall shout." (11) So he had the ark of the Lord circle the city, going around it once. Then they came into the camp and lodged in the camp. (12) And Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of the Lord. (13) Then seven priests bearing seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark of the Lord went on continually and blew with the trumpets. And the armed men went before them. But the rear guard came after the ark of the Lord, while the priests continued blowing the trumpets. (14) And the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp. So they did six days. (15) But it came to pass on the seventh day that they rose early, about the dawning of the day, and marched around the city seven times in the same manner. On that day only they marched around the city seven times. (16) And the seventh time it happened, when the priests blew the trumpets, that Joshua said to the people: "Shout, for the Lord has given you the city! (17) Now the city shall be doomed by the Lord to destruction, it and all who are in it. Only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all who are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent. (18) And you, by all means abstain from the accursed things, lest you become accursed when you take of the accursed things, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it. (19) But all the silver and gold, and vessels of bronze and iron, are consecrated to the Lord; they shall come into the treasury of the Lord." (20) So the people shouted when the priests blew the trumpets. And it happened when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat. Then the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city.
This is the story we are familiar when it comes to Joshua and his beginning conquest of the land of Canannan. It is awesome story of faith and God’s power.
What Joshua saw?
The towering walls.
Three walls
1) A retaining wall. This is to keep the dirt in. It was 12 – 15 feet high
2) A wall on top of the retaining wall. It was 20 – 26 feet.
3) A top wall. There was about an acre between the two walls. People would often place homes there and live in these walls. It was not prime property because it would be vulnerable to the first attract of the enemy.
You could imagine what would happen when you broke past the first wall. Then you would face the archers caught between two walls.
When Joshua came to the city this is what he saw.
Was Joshua afraid? No, he was not afraid the first time he met these walls.
Numbers 13:23-33 Then they came to the Valley of Eshcol, and there cut down a branch with one cluster of grapes; they carried it between two of them on a pole. They also brought some of the pomegranates and figs. (24) The place was called the Valley of Eshcol, [16] because of the cluster which the men of Israel cut down there. (25) And they returned from spying out the land after forty days. (26) Now they departed and came back to Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the children of Israel in the Wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh; they brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. (27) Then they told him, and said: "We went to the land where you sent us. It truly flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. (28) Nevertheless the people who dwell in the land are strong; the cities are fortified and very large; moreover we saw the descendants of Anak there. (29) The Amalekites dwell in the land of the South; the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the mountains; and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and along the banks of the Jordan." (30) Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, "Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it." (31) But the men who had gone up with him said, "We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we." (32) And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, "The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. (33) There we saw the giants [17](the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight."
Numbers 14:6-8 But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes; (7) and they spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying: "The land we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. (8) If the Lord delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, 'a land which flows with milk and honey.' [18]
This is where the 12 spies were sent out. They came back and reporting the walls and the giaints of the land.
Jos 5:13-15 And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, a Man stood opposite him with His sword drawn in His hand. And Joshua went to Him and said to Him, "Are You for us or for our adversaries?" (14) So He said, "No, but as Commander of the army of the Lord I have now come." And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped, and said to Him, "What does my Lord say to His servant?" (15) Then the Commander of the Lord's army said to Joshua, "Take your sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy." And Joshua did so.
Joshua sees this Man with His sword drawn. Joshua approaches Him with a battle on his mind. The walls of Jericho was before Him he was surveying the landscape. He asked the man, “Or you for us or against us?”
The response is golden: “Neither, I am the commader of the Lord’s army”. This is a clue to who this man was. The next clue is what Joshua did, he bowed down. Finally, as Moses did in Exodus 3, he took his shoes off.
This is none other than Christ himself.
Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
1 Peter 120 He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you
Before Abraham Jesus says, “I AM”
It is God who is with us.
Psalms 121:1-2 A Song of Ascents. I will lift up my eyes to the hills-- From whence comes my help? (2) My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.
Psalms 3:3 But You, O Lord, are a shield for me, My glory and the lifter of my head.
Romans 8:31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
Elisha’s servant
2 Kings 6:14-17 Therefore he sent horses and chariots and a great army there, and they came by night and surrounded the city. (15) And when the servant of the man of God arose early and went out, there was an army, surrounding the city with horses and chariots. And his servant said to him, "Alas, my master! What shall we do?" (16) So he answered, "Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them." (17) And Elisha prayed, and said, "Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see." Then the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
When the Walls are around us.
These walls are your insecurity. They are your faithlessness. Your anger. Your bitterness. Your prejudice.
“For every level inheritance we receive from God requires there must be an disinheritance from Satan”
The soldiers were ready. You could imagine they said, Ok lets take invertory. We got out rope ladders, our archers, our fighters. But Joshua steps and says we will not use any of these. What kind of battle uses no one to fight, a spiritual battle, spiritual warfare.
Ephesians 6:11 Paul urges us to “stand against the wiles of the devil” In the greek wiles is methodia or method. The enemy is methodical.
But here is the battle plan
2 Corinthians 10:3-4 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. (4) For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds,
Stronghold – 2 Corinthians 10:5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,
Strongholds – imaginations, pretensions, lofty opinion, warped philosophies.
A stronghold is a false premise that denies God’s promise
Thoughts of defeat and language of impossibility
God could never forgive me. (the stronghold of guilt)
I could never forgive that person (the stronghold of resentment)
Bad things always happens to me (the stronghold of self-pity)
I have to be in charge. (the stronghold of pride)
I don’t’ deserve to be loved. (the strong hold of rejection)
I will never recover (the stronghold of defeat)
I must be good, or God will reject me (the stronghold of performance)
I’m only as good as I look (the stronghold of appearance)
My value equals my possessions (the stronghold of materialism)
How do we get the walls to fall?
A. Keep the ark in the center
B. Blast the Rams horn. Two horn were used 1) silver trumpet to call the assembly 2) rams horn to sound the victory.
C. Keep quiet. Let God give us the victory.
D. Just keep marching until God’s timing.
1Co 15:58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
E. Joshua never told them how many times to march until the walls would fall. He just said march.
The very walls that used to keep you out will be used to propel you to the next level.
