Joshua Series #8
The Amazing Race to Rest & Reward
“Battle Ready”
Review / Introduction
The book of Joshua is all about the fulfillment of a promise made to Abraham hundreds of years before. God chose to bless Abraham who was living near Babylon. He promised to build from him a great nation, give them a special land and bless him. Abraham believed God and God made a covenant with Abraham to bring it about. The book of Genesis is about the unfolding of that promise. Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy are about the development of that promised people and their journey to the special land promised by God.
The book of Joshua is about the entrance into that Promised Land.
I. Purge the Land 1-12
A. God Prepared Joshua for leadership 1
Listen, trust, obey
B. Joshua prepared the people to possess the land 2
1. Joshua commissioned spies and God saved Rahab 2
2. Joshua led the people through the Jordan 3-4
3. Joshua reinforced the people’s connection to Yahweh 5
a. Through circumcision
b. Through Passover
As we have previously taught, the events associated with their journey parallel events connected to aspects of the Christian journey toward peace and the faith walk. The defeat of Egypt and the humiliation of the demonic powers they worshipped by the power of God parallel the defeat of the devil and his sorry soldiers by the work of Christ on the cross.
The journey to the Promised Land with all of its twists and turns parallels the kinds of things a new Christian might encounter as they learn to trust God in a broken world driven by the devil.
The encounter of the raging Jordan River resembles the kinds of things we encounter in the world that keep us from experiencing His promised peace. They broke through that formidable barrier by listening, trusting and obeying God’s word. It is the same secret of breaking through the things that block our peace.
Once they had confronted the world’s obstacles and put their feet on the land there was another obstacle they needed to confront; battles. The encounter with the evil people occupying their land is similar to our continual battle with Satan’s attempt to rob us of our rest and peace. He goes around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. There are many things to learn from their experience that can be applied to ours. However, before we can effectively purge the influence of the enemy from our lives; two things must be clear.
First, we must be clear about our identity. James tells us to submit to God and then resist the devil and then draw near to Him and He will draw near to us. We must be clear as to who we are.
Second, we must be clear that the Christian life is primarily spiritual. Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Before Christ, a fleshly earth focus is all that was possible. Since we have been raised up with Him we are to focus on the eternal. For Israel this reality was symbolized by the rite of circumcision.
Circumcision symbolized their covenant connection to God.
Circumcision symbolized a spiritual relationship.
Circumcision symbolized purity.
There are three battles every Christian must wage.
Battle with the devil-directed world system
Battle with an inherited fleshly bent that resists the new longings of new heart
Battle with the devil and his fellow fallen angels
We battle the world by continually renewing our thinking with the truth. We battle the flesh by living by the direction and empowerment of the Holy Spirit. We battle the devil by resisting in the strength the Lord. A parallel ceremony to circumcision for the Christian to publicly express their full commitment to Christ would be water baptism. Besides circumcision, the Israelites celebrate Passover for the first time since the original one.
PASSOVER
While the sons of Israel camped at Gilgal they observed the Passover on the evening of the fourteenth day of the month on the desert plains of Jericho. On the day after the Passover, on that very day, they ate some of the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain. The manna ceased on the day after they had eaten some of the produce of the land, so that the sons of Israel no longer had manna, but they ate some of the yield of the land of Canaan during that year. Joshua 5:10-12
Passover was supposed to be an annual remembrance of their salvation from Egypt. As far as we know, they failed to celebrate this most important remembrance all through the wilderness journey. No wonder they lost the significance of the great deliverance. Moses told them never to forget. It was to be the basis of their faith that the same God who defeated Egypt and its gods and parted the Red Sea and dammed up the Jordan would certainly defeat those occupying their inheritance.
There were specific prescribed elements that remain to this day in the Jewish Passover. It was a remembrance of God’s deliverance. It again highlighted their privileged position as God’s chosen people. Jesus infused brand new significance when He celebrated the Passover and connected it to His work on the cross. This is my body and blood. Remember Me and My sacrifice. Remember your connection to me through communion. Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood you have no life in yourselves. Unless you have intimate connection to me there is no real life. Jesus is our life. Communion remembers and celebrates that union. Again, one may participate in this ritual without the corresponding reality. Paul warns about participating in the celebration without the connection. Communion communicates and celebrates oneness with Christ and His body. Before you engage the enemy and claim the promised blessing you need to be sure of your connection to Christ.
You need to be confident as to your new identity because of that connection. It is interesting that that is the focus of Satan’s attacks. He does not want you to know who you are. All of the armor has to do with truth related to our connection to Jesus.
There is no resisting the devil without first submitting to God.
There is no resisting without remembering who we are.
There is no resisting the enemy without denying the flesh.
Paul wrote to put on Christ and make no provision, no room, no opportunity for the flesh. Communion reminds us of our need to continually connect and submit to Him. Our Identity in Christ allows us to rise up out of a dark night of the soul. These things are true no matter how we feel at the moment. They are an established fact for everyone who truly puts their trust in Christ.
Do the blessings of that chosen people apply to us today?
You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendants, heirs according to promise. Galatians 3:26-29
But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God's OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were NOT A PEOPLE, but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD; you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY, but now you have RECEIVED MERCY. 1 Peter 2:9-10
Battle Plans from Moses
Before we follow Joshua to the Battle for Jericho, I want to pause to pick up some instructions that had been given through Moses (recorded in Deuteronomy) for when they entered the land. Moses left a number of principles to keep in mind as they entered the land. The key instruction all through Deuteronomy was to listen to and follow God’s instructions and to be diligent to completely purge the wicked from the land and don’t forget the Lord.
Carefully Listen, Trust, Obey
I counted over 70 references besides the actual instructions in the book, related to being diligent to keep the instructions. After a brief summary of their journey to this point, Moses looked to the future.
And now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the rules that I am teaching you, and do them, that you may live, and go in and take possession of the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you. You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you. Your eyes have seen what the LORD did at Baal-peor, for the LORD your God destroyed from among you all the men who followed the Baal of Peor. But you who held fast to the LORD your God are all alive today. See, I have taught you statutes and rules, as the LORD my God commanded me, that you should do them in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the LORD our God is to us, whenever we call upon him? And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today? Deuteronomy 4:1-8
Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children’s children— Deuteronomy 4:9
And the LORD commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and rules, that you might do them in the land that you are going over to possess. Deuteronomy 4:14
Therefore watch yourselves very carefully. 4:15
Therefore you shall keep his statutes and his commandments, which I command you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land that the LORD your God is giving you for all time.” Deuteronomy 4:40
You shall be careful therefore to do as the LORD your God has commanded you. You shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. You shall walk in all the way that the LORD your God has commanded you, that you may live, and that it may go well with you, and that you may live long in the land that you shall possess. Deut 5:32-33
And when the LORD your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you—with great and good cities that you did not build, and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant—and when you eat and are full, then take care lest you forget the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. It is the LORD your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear. You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you— for the LORD your God in your midst is a jealous God— lest the anger of the LORD your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth. Deuteronomy 6:10-15
You shall not put the LORD your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah. You shall diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and his testimonies and his statutes, which he has commanded you. And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the LORD, that it may go well with you, and that you may go in and take possession of the good land that the LORD swore to give to your fathers by thrusting out all your enemies from before you, as the LORD has promised. Deuteronomy 6:16-19
This is only a representative of the warning to listen, trust and obey the Lord.
Completely Purge the Wicked
It was equally clear that they were to be diligent to completely purge the destructive wicked influences from the land. This was the battle strategy that is as applicable today as it was back then.
When the LORD your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and mightier than yourselves, and when the LORD your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction.
You shall make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them. You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons, for they would turn away your sons from following me, to serve other gods. Then the anger of the LORD would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you quickly. But thus shall you deal with them: you shall break down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and chop down their Asherim and burn their carved images with fire. For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.
Don’t make any compromises with the enemy. Don’t copy his ways. Don’t have anything to do with his practices. Destroy all of their stuff they used to worship their gods. Sometimes we get caught up resisting the enemy but embracing his “stuff”. Resist the enemy but still participate in things he has designed to deceive. Why? God is holy and you are His holy people.
It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the LORD loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
He is a faithful God who loves you and blesses you.
Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations, and repays to their face those who hate him, by destroying them. He will not be slack with one who hates him. He will repay him to his face. You shall therefore be careful to do the commandment and the statutes and the rules that I command you today. And because you listen to these rules and keep and do them, the LORD your God will keep with you the covenant and the steadfast love that he swore to your fathers. He will love you, bless you, and multiply you. He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your wine and your oil, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock, in the land that he swore to your fathers to give you. You shall be blessed above all peoples. There shall not be male or female barren among you or among your livestock. And the LORD will take away from you all sickness, and none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which you knew, will he inflict on you, but he will lay them on all who hate you. And you shall consume all the peoples that the LORD your God will give over to you. Your eye shall not pity them, neither shall you serve their gods, for that would be a snare to you.
God promises to remove the curse the enemy continually seeks to cast on us.
Like a flitting sparrow or a fluttering swallow, an undeserved curse goes nowhere. Proverbs 26:2
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, "CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE"— in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Galatians 3:13-14
Moses addressed their fear of confronting an enemy they perceived as greater and stronger.
Guiding Truth #1 -- Remember God’s past victory.
If you say in your heart, ‘These nations are greater than I. How can I dispossess them?’ You shall not be afraid of them but you shall remember what the LORD your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt, the great trials that your eyes saw, the signs, the wonders, the mighty hand, and the outstretched arm, by which the LORD your God brought you out. So will the LORD your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid.
If God can wide out the trunk, how much more the branches? If God defeated Satan’s authority at the cross, how much more Satan’s attack on the Christian.
Guiding truth #2 – God will expose them
Moreover, the LORD your God will send hornets among them, until those who are left and hide themselves from you are destroyed.
Guiding truth #3 – God is with you
You shall not be in dread of them, for the LORD your God is in your midst, a great and awesome God.
This is a promise make clear to Joshua and the people. The New Testament parallel is 1 John 4:4
You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.
Guiding truth #4 – God will eventually clear them all
The LORD your God will clear away these nations before you little by little. You may not make an end of them at once, lest the wild beasts grow too numerous for you. But the LORD your God will give them over to you and throw them into great confusion, until they are destroyed. And he will give their kings into your hand, and you shall make their name perish from under heaven. No one shall be able to stand against you until you have destroyed them.
Notice the partnership. God will clear them away – until you have destroyed them. It is a process but the end is assured.
Guiding truth #5 – Detest and abhor anything to do with the enemy
The carved images of their gods you shall burn with fire. You shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them or take it for yourselves, lest you be ensnared by it, for it is an abomination to the LORD your God. And you shall not bring an abominable thing into your house and become devoted to destruction like it. You shall utterly detest and abhor it, for it is devoted to destruction. Deuteronomy 7:1-26
Do not be deceived: "Bad company corrupts good morals." Become sober-minded as you ought, and stop sinning; for some have no knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame. 1 Corinthians 15:33-34
Carefully listen, trust and obey Completely purge evil.
Continually remember
In chapter 8 Moses affirmed their need to be careful to obey. Then he reminded them of two things.
Remember who got you here
"Beware that you do not forget the LORD your God by not keeping His commandments and His ordinances and His statutes which I am commanding you today; otherwise, when you have eaten and are satisfied, and have built good houses and lived in them, and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and gold multiply, and all that you have multiplies, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. "He led you through the great and terrible wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water; He brought water for you out of the rock of flint. "In the wilderness He fed you manna which your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and that He might test you, to do good for you in the end. "Otherwise, you may say in your heart, 'My power and the strength of my hand made me this wealth.' "But you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth, that He may confirm His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day. "It shall come about if you ever forget the LORD your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I testify against you today that you will surely perish. "Like the nations that the LORD makes to perish before you, so you shall perish; because you would not listen to the voice of the LORD your God. Deuteronomy 8:11-20
Remember why you got here
Chapter 9, Moses reminded them that it wasn’t because they were such a righteous people.
In fact he reminded them that they were a disobedient stubborn people. God will not purge the land because they were great and righteous but because of the depth of wickedness of the people occupying the land.
"Do not say in your heart when the LORD your God has driven them out before you, 'Because of my righteousness the LORD has brought me in to possess this land,' but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is dispossessing them before you. "It is not for your righteousness or for the uprightness of your heart that you are going to possess their land, but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD your God is driving them out before you, in order to confirm the oath which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Deuteronomy 9:4-5
